What Do Artists Diane Simpson and Professor Emerita Mernet Larsen Have In Common? A Fascination With the 45-Degree Angle - artnet
Top Image: Mernet Larsen, Cézanne's House (2023) Photo: Phoebe d'Heurle. Courtesy of James Cohan Gallery.
Two exhibitions at James Cohan Gallery put the artists in dialogue.
by Katie White
March 20, 2024
What if we saw the world from a 45-degree angle? This topsy-turvy premise united two shows “Mernet Larsen: Thinking About Cézanne” and “Diane Simpson: 1977–1980” at James Cohan, New York (Simpson’s show is on view through March 23; Larsen’s closed on March 16), wherein sculptures (Simpson’s) and paintings (Larsen’s) playfully vacillate between two and three dimensions.
Diane Simpson, Chaise (1979). Photo: Phoebe d’Heurle. Courtesy of James Cohan Gallery.
They make an intriguing dyad. Now in the late years of their career—Larsen is 84, Simpson 89—both artists have made careers as art world nonconformists—each with a unique visual language that ran outside the dominating art world narratives for decades. But even if they didn’t know it, these two artists were mining parallel fascinations. That synchronicity—and where it diverges—offers compelling thoughts on the ways these artists have devoted themselves to challenging the eye.
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