Kirstie Cohen

Inverness-shire based artist Kirstie Cohen has been described as ‘a rare voice in Scottish painting.’ Her dramatic and carefully layered paintings combine the influence of the Romantic tradition with an abstract approach. In her hands, the familiar silhouettes of hills and expansive skies are stripped of their geography, transformed instead into a silent, internal monologue that mirrors the depths of the solitary mind. Born in Edinburgh in 1963, she studied at Edinburgh College of Art and later gained entry to Glasgow School of Art, where she studied painting from 1983–1987. On completion of her degree, Kirstie was offered a place on the Post graduate course from 1987–1988. After leaving art school she was a finalist in the 1989 British Airways Award at Olympia, London: a major showcase for young emerging artists. As soon as her studies were completed, she started to develop landscape in her work, turning professional with her first solo Exhibition in London in 1990. She has subsequently had many solo and mixed shows nationwide.