Peter Cohen

Peter Cohen is a Johannesburg-based architect and artist with a meticulous examination of the interplay between interior and exterior spaces and how this shifts our understanding of reality. Through a methodical layering process, he constructs environments that challenge conventional understandings of spatial dynamics and the nature of human perception.

His imagery manipulates visual elements to prompt viewers to investigate the reliability of memory and its role in shaping individual and collective experiences. The artist achieves this through the act of dissolution – creating layered daydreams out of commonplace scenery where reality loses its definition, inside and outside become interchangeable and memory and truth are mirrored distortions.

Peter Cohen is a Johannesburg-based architect and artist , with a particular affinity for designing modern dwellings that imagine the fine artworks that would fill these domestic spaces. In 2020, during the global pandemic, Cohen felt the need to create art outside of the realm of architecture. By day he worked on his architecture practice and by night he began exploring both abstract and figurative imagery in different mediums. With his early works Cohen was industrious with tools he could find, painting delicate, precise landscapes on spare pieces of floorboards and rolls of heavy brown paper. Peter Cohen first began collaborating with the David Krut Workshop (DKW) in 2022. He came in to create a series of monotype prints and a large-scale linocut which was ultimately showcased in an exhibition titled Colour in black and white. In 2023 Peter returned to the workshop, once again, he worked with DKW collaborator Sarah Judge, to explore pronto lithography in a series of works about urban landscapes. Following this collaboration, David Krut Projects was pleased to present City of Remembered Futures, an exhibition that ran from August 2023 until September. In 2024 he continued collaborating with DKW, with this new body of cyanotypes being displayed in a showcase of his recent work. In 2024 Peter also embarked on another large-scale linocut this time working with DKW printer Sbongiseni Khulu. The work debuted in March 2025 at the David Krut Projects Booth at the Brooklyn Art Fair, New York.

Peter Cohen TURBINE ART FAIR 2023 | DAVID KRUT PROJECTS |

Artworks

Blueprint: Figure 1

Still Life with Portrait

Blueprint: Figure 4

Blueprint: Figure 5

Absence (Presence)

Not really (T)here [Out of office (i)]

Walking the halls (Dreaming of the forest)

Desaturation [Out of office]

End (of the) Street

[Looking towards the past (Imagining the present)]

Still life with pear

City of Borrowed Promises

City of Borrowed Promises II

City of Borrowed Promises III

City of stolen voices

City of hidden figures

City of forgotten destinies

City of lost histories

City of remembered futures

Between the lines

A narrative of histories I

A narrative of histories II

City of Remembered Wishes

The Dreams of Men I

The Dreams of Men II

City of Forgotten Logic

City of Memories I

City of Disconnected Certainties I

City of Disconnected Certainties II

City of Disconnected Certainties III

Blueprint: Figure 2

Blueprint: Figure 3

Synchronicity (painting the sky blue)

Fragments ( After reality left)

News

David Krut Projects at the Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair

Established in the West Chelsea Building in 2001, David Krut Projects Artspace, New York continues to connect the David Krut...

Tags: Arts on Main, David Krut Print Workshop, David Krut Projects, David Krut Projects New York, Exhibition

Beyond the Page: Woordfees 2024

Woordfees began in 2000 with a focus on celebrating Afrikaans literature and has now become one of the largest arts...

Tags: Beyond the Page, boschendal, Brundyn arts, David Krut Projects, litrature, woordfees, works on paper

When Old Meets New: The Iterative Works of Peter Cohen

Proofs (process prints) of Peter's work at DKW. Peter Cohen is a South African architect and artist. He has recently...

Tags: Arts on Main, David Krut Print Workshop, David Krut Projects, Exhibition

September 2022 Print of the Month, ‘Contours’ by Peter Cohen

Peter Cohen is a practising architect with over 30 years of experience and during the lockdown he decided to dedicate...

Tags: Arts on Main, David Krut Print Workshop, Printmaking

Architect and Artist Peter Cohen in the David Krut Workshop

David Krut Projects is interested in creating experimental moments in which to interact with creatives from various fields as they...

Tags: David Krut Print Workshop, David Krut Projects, Peter Cohen

David Krut Podcast: Peter Cohen is Learning through the Process | Listening Time: 23 min

Listen to architect Peter Cohen chats to Britt Lawton about his exciting new venture into fine arts! Cohen unpacks his...

Tags: Art Podcast, Arts on Main, David Krut Podcast, David Krut Print Workshop, David Krut Projects, fine art, Linocut, Peter Cohen, Printmaking