Ekstasis

Kevin Cobb is a New York-based painter whose work engages both physical and digital space. Combining imagined perspectives with meticulously considered observed detail, Cobb ponders the notion of seeing beyond sight. Throughout his practice, Cobb returns to themes of viewership-often placing his audience in the viewpoint of his own head- exploring the mechanisms of light, reflection, refraction, and ocular processing.

The title Ekstasis, literally meaning “beyond or outside the self,” refers to a removal or displacement of the self, a transference of the mind, as in a state of ecstasy. Cobb’s recent body of work grapples with transferences of the mind and of the body, using perspective to shrink his audience down to the size of an atom and retaining the buoyancy to pull back, shift focus, and place them amongst the cosmos.

For over a decade, Cobb’s work has contemplated sight as a springboard by which to broach the themes of subjectivity, identity, temporality, and artistry. His recent works internalize these same principles while incorporating elements of mysticism and spirituality. What I was drawn to paint, a layered painting which places the viewer inside the mouth of a flame-headed angelic being, depicts several realities at once. Featuring recognizable imagery including a miniature reflection of Kevin himself, the painting blends science fiction and the fantastical in the tradition of Afro-Futurism.

Also an accomplished printmaker, Cobb furthers his approach in View from the pyramid, an intaglio etching which envisions the point of view of the Eye of Providence as depicted on the US dollar. The eye looks beyond the surface of the bill watching as Kevin paradoxically renders the very scene which it inhabits. More ominous than his previous compositions, the etching portrays Kevin as both a creator and as a target of surveillance, a reminder that visibility brings its risks.

Presented in four sections, Ekstasis arranges Cobb’s work into themes. The Studio centers the artist’s practice, and the interior space reflected in many of his paintings. Staged to mimic the layout of a workspace, The Studio features an interactive desk where visitors can peruse some of the artist’s influences.

The central portion of the gallery is Ekstasis, a meditation on looking, seeing, and being seen.

The final two sections are The Teleport and The Portal. The Teleport serves as a runway, leading the audience out of the corporeal realm and into a celestial domain. Here, Cobb ruminates on societal matters rather than on individuals. Finally, the gallery transitions its audience to The Portal, a virtual space where Cobb’s digital renderings come to life, occupying an ethereal vista unbridled by the laws of the natural world.