ABOUT KARLA COHEN
BIO
Born in Atlanta, Karla Cohen’s artistic journey is a study of movement across geographies and styles. Trained early under Virginia Carnes at The Westminster Schools and a pivotal summer program in New York (Barnard) shaped her foundation in art. Over time, she developed a fascination with color, composition, and the emotional resonance of art. Her studies in French, International Relations, and Art History at Emory University, combined with years abroad in Singapore, France (and studies at INSEAD), along with the UK and currently the US have greatly impacted her artistic vocabulary and philosophical lens.
Influenced by Fauvism and modern masters including Matisse, Klimt, Munch, and Cézanne, Cohen creates with intention, distilling their lessons into her own visual language. Her practice spans painting, mixed media, and more recently film, where she layers imagery, rhythm, and sound to explore time, perception, and emotion. She works at the tension between structure and spontaneity, beauty and rupture, creation and destruction. Painting is both excavation and renewal.
Her paintings and films have been exhibited widely in the Boston area and beyond, including Boston City Hall, The Mosesian Center for the Arts, The RW Norton Gallery & Museum, and The Longview Museum of Art. Collectors and organizations across North America and Europe have acquired her pieces, which often favor large-scale acrylic on canvas.