Responce to Absence/ Presence: a convesation with Charles Cohen

The artist talks about his cut-out artwork as being seen in 3 different ways. He describes them as "effects"; the first one being the immediate reaction from the viewer which he/she would recognize the cut out image from the picture. The second effect he talks about being the "abstract effect" which he describes as being the intellectual thought coming from the viewer from interpreting and questioning the image leading up to the last "reflexive effect" where the viewer comes to terms with the piece and makes his/her own conclusions about the artwork. The artist then goes into explaining how he uses the effects in his artwork and what kinds of reactions he looks for when other people view his work. The way that the Charles Cohen portrays his work is very unique and effective in the way that he makes people think about the empty space. The objects that he cuts out of the images has a big impact on the viewer and can describe all types of emotions and ideas that are sometimes to difficult to describe in words only.