Marieken Cochius
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is elemental, related to or embodying the powers of nature.
I am fascinated by growth-forms, root systems of plants, seedpods and animal architecture. In those I see a sensitive chaos that contains and propels the origins and energies of life.
The energy that natural forms temporarily contain yet inevitably transform particularly inspire me. I aim to evoke the mystery and power of nature through intensely materialist and tactile forms and imagery, and explore the porous boundary between perception and experience. I want to create a mesmerizing effect of movement, something that looks familiar, but that you cannot exactly place.
BIOGRAPHY
Marieken Cochius is a Dutch-born artist who is drawn to remote places where she studies nature and makes art inspired by it. Her work encompasses drawing, painting and sculpture.
In 2021 Cochius received an NYSCA Decentralization Grant for an Individual Artist Commission. She is a 2020 recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), Emergency Grants COVID-19 Fund grant.
In 2017 Cochius completed a public sculpture commission for the Village of Wappingers Falls, NY made possible by a grant from the Hudson River Foundation.
Recent solo shows were at Palmer Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY, SUNY Ulster, NY. She has participated in residencies including the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT.
Cochius' work has been shown in group exhibitions at the Lockwood Gallery, Kingston, NY, 6th International Drawing Triennial in Tallinn, Estonia; Ely Center, New Haven, CT; Holland Tunnel Gallery, Newburgh, NY and many more. Her work has been featured in Elle Decor, Columbia Journal, the New York Times, and in over 40 art, literary, poetry and university publications. Cochius studied photography at the Art Academy St Joost in Breda, the Netherlands and is self taught in drawing, sculpture and painting. She currently lives in the Hudson Valley, New York.
Daughter of the Rising Tide, 2019, Driftwood on metal, 44" x 57" x 18"
Thinking out loud, 2018, Driftwood and metal, 44" x 55" x 15"