Beacon, New York, located in Dutchess County on the storied Hudson River, some 60 miles from Manhattan, has revolutionary vision in its DNA. Named to commemorate the historic beacon fires that lit up the mountains to alert the Continental Army, led by General George Washington, of British troop movements, the historic city on the River continues to lead by illumination. Beacon’s immortal revolutionary spirit thrives today in the redoubtable modern-art mecca Dia Beacon, and—with equally blazing brilliance—in an upstart cultural destination called Kunsthalle Beacon (KuBe), located at 211 Fishkill Avenue, not far from the main street.
Kunsthalle, the German term literally translating to “art hall”—part gallery and part museum—couldn’t be a more perfect designation for the cultural phenomenon that is the Ethan Cohen Gallery at the KuBe Art Center. Housed in a repurposed former schoolhouse, the KuBe provides a graceful teaching lesson for any arts organization seeking to make a difference. It’s a true paradise for art, artists, and art lovers, a campus of artists, artist studios, galleries, and ceramic studios, plus three recording studios providing a continuous improvisational soundtrack of rock, new age, jazz, and classical music. The KuBe Art Center houses Ethan Cohen Gallery’s Beacon location, which includes four main gallery spaces, an experimental space, a sculpture garden, a library, teaching programs, and an art residency in the making.
Offering a breathtaking program of events, and having a profound—even revolutionary—impact on the international cultural scene, it’s no wonder the KuBe won the 2023 Arts Mid Hudson Award for Leading Arts Organization of the Hudson Valley. The KuBe has become a vital component in the growing global vision of Ethan Cohen, whose Manhattan HQ, Ethan Cohen Gallery, has two exhibition locations in Chelsea. Astrologically, Cohen’s disciplined diligence about making a meaningful mark on the art world comes as no surprise: he was born under the hard-working sign of Capricorn.
He has lived and worked all over the world, from Cambridge, MA, to Paris, Japan to China… worked intimately with multi-media masters ranging from Hubert de Givenchy to Ai Weiwei to Ushio Shinohara… embraces “emerging and established artists from the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia, and beyond.” Yet it’s New York’s Hudson Valley that now has Ethan Cohen’s heart—which is huge, and devoted to his favorite artists, the famous as well as the lesser-known, with a refreshing combination of serious scholarship and energetic enthusiasm.
Warmly welcoming to all creative spirits, KuBe hosts several artists in residence, among them Aboudia, whose gorgeous graffiti creations literally think outside the box, with swaths of boldly-applied spray paint expanding beyond the paintings’ frames to break the centuries-strong barrier between canvas and cadre. For an entirely different take on graffiti, consider the work of self-styled “ambidextrous artist” Donna Mikkelsen, also in residence at KuBe; compelling Instagram videos reveal her unique process as, ephemeral chalk in each hand, arms outstretched yogini-style, she salutes, not the sun, but her art. (Mikkelsen is also Director of The KuBe.)
On view through January 20, 2025, “The Truth of a Portrait” displays recent work by Israeli-born Yigal Ozeri, whose heroically scaled, dazzlingly photorealist, portrait paintings of contemporary political figures, in black and white, salute the very spirit of independence that first fired up Beacon. Ozeri’s works have been exhibited around the world, and reside in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Jewish Museum in New York, the Smithsonian, and Vienna’s Albertina, among others. In this distinguished group of leadership likenesses, the standouts are the late John Lewis and America’s historic once and future beacon personified, Ms. Kamala Harris.
The KuBe is a recreation ground where more and more artists are delighted to play and stay, and their delight is palpable to visitors. Standing in stark contrast to Ozeri’s laser-sharp, hyper-focused political portraits are Sherry Kerlin’s eerily blurry paintings of people and animals, which challenge viewers to experience the ultimate trustfall: a temporary deficit of vision. Kerlin’s work was included in Arthaus, the exhibition that Cohen presented as part of Art Basel in Switzerland this past Summer 2024. “There’s a brilliant, brilliant video talking about Sherry’s art practice, under our gallery Instagram,” Cohen says. “View it, and you’ll see how amazingly mesmerizing she is.”
Ethan Cohen’s contagious excitement is but one legacy of his extraordinary parents, Joan Lebold Cohen and Jerome A. Cohen, who remain dedicated to their shared life’s work of promoting and popularizing Asian art and law. In tribute, their son has established a non-profit 501(c)3: The Cohen Foundation, to be headquartered at KuBe, and to include the elder Cohens’ formidable library. Future plans also include a KuBe art cafe and gallery concept store. “For me, as a curator, trying to move and shake and make something valuable of my life, having that acknowledgment as Leading Arts Organization of the Hudson Valley was so important,” Cohen concludes. “It gave me a shot in the arm, and told me that we’re doing something good that people in our community are really enjoying.” G&S
website: ecfa.com
Instagram: @ethancohengallery
Terrific interview! Really makes one want to go explore the KuBe and it’s fascinating combination of projects!