Born 1966, New York, New York
Based in Berlin, Germany
FORMATION
1994-1996
New York Studio School, New York
Arts Students League, New York
1990-1992
Assistant to Ralph Gibson
1988-1990
Assistant to Larry Clark
1985-1988
B.A. Oriental Studies, New York University, New York
University Honors Scholar
1987
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
AWARDS
Pollock-Krasner Grant Fine Art Still Photography, 2021
Thomas Cooke Award for Photography, 2004
SOLO SHOWS
2024
Jeff Cowen: Berlin Works, Fotografiska Stockholm, Sweden
Jeff Cowen: Provence Works, Huis Marseille – Museum voor Fotografie, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2023
Jeff Cowen, solo show, WILLAS contemporary, Photo London, UK
2021
Jeff Cowen, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
2019
Jeff Cowen 30 Works, Museum of Modern Art, Tbilisi, Georgia
24 Works From The W-Series, Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Frankfurt, Germany
2018
Recent Work, Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Cologne, Germany
2017
Jeff Cowen. Photoworks, Huis Marseille – Museum voor Fotografie, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2016
Jeff Cowen. Photoworks, Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany
Jeff Cowen. Sculpture Photographs, Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Cologne, Germany
Capturing Eclipse, Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Frankfurt, Germany
2015
Recent Work, WILLAS Contemporary, Oslo, Norway
Capturing Eclipse, Kunsthalle Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven, Germany
2014
Landscapes, Kunstverein Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen, Germany
Jeff Cowen, VW (VeneKlasen/Werner), Berlin, Germany
2013
PHOTOGRAPHY, Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Cologne, Germany
Jeff Cowen, solo show, Paris Photo 2013, Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Grand Palais, Paris
2012
Jeff Cowen. Photographic works, Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Cologne, Germany
2011
Jeff Cowen, Gallery Seine 51, Paris, France
Art Moscow special project: Insight, Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia
2010
Scarab, Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, Germany
2009
Jeff Cowen, Galerie Seine 51 Paris
2008
Jeff Cowen, Galerie A34, Barcelona, Spain
Photo murals, Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, Germany
2006
The Lotus-Eaters, Galerie Seine 51, Paris, France
2004
1987-2004 Work, Galerie Seine 51, Paris, France
2003
Shoot and Die, Galerie Seine 51, Paris, France
GROUP SHOWS
2023
Women’s Work, New York Historical Society Museum, New York, USA
2022
RETRATOS: Denise Colomb, Jeff Cowen, Robert Doisneau, Marc Trivier, Joan Vilatobà, i.a., Galeria A34, Barcelona, Spain
2020
The Lives and Loves of Images, Biennale for contemporary photography, curated by David Campany, Wilhelm-Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Heart: 100 Artists, 1 Mission, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
2019
64 Art Works, Art Collection of The New School, New York, USA
2018
Picture Believer, The Glen Bjørnholt Collection, Oslo, Norway
Elèctric i llunyà, Collection olorVisual, Barcelona, Spain
2016
Scarlet Muse, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York
Look Again, Willas Contemporary, Oslo, Norway
Back to the Future of Photography, DZ BANK Collection, Frankfurt, Germany
Fotografies – Dibuixos, Gallery A34, Barcelona, Spain
2015
Marguerite, Gallery Seine 51, Paris, France
2014
Cowen, Minkkinen, Yamamoto, Blomqyist Kunsthandell, Oslo, Norway
Hängengeblieben – 25 Jahre Kunstverein Recklinghausen, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen, Germany
The Marseillaise / fifteen years of collecting, Huis Marseille – Museum voor Fotografie, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jeff Cowen and Yamamoto Masao, Pug Gallery, Oslo, Norway
2009
Photoespana, Galerie Nieves Fernandez, Madrid, Spain
2006
Fotografies, A34 Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2005
L’art et la guerre, La Filature, Mulhouse, France
Biography
Jeff Cowen (b. 1966) grew up on New York’s Upper West Side and graduated in Oriental Studies from New York University and Waseda University Tokyo. He moved in the late 1980s to the Meatpacking District in New York City and earned his living as a taxi cab driver. In his first series “West 14th Street”, he photographed the district’s transgender sex workers which was bought by the New York Historical Society for its permanent collection. Also during this period, he worked as an assistant to Larry Clark and Ralph Gibson, a time he used in order to familiarize himself with various darkroom techniques. In the 1990’s he studied academic drawing and painting at the Art Students League and the New York Studio School.
Cowen’s interest in poetry, aesthetics, and the non-visible world eventually led him to explore the conceptual, experimental terrain of black-and-white film photography. From a technical perspective, Cowen’s work explores the evolutionary potential of the photographic medium, which is, in his opinion, still a young art form. He has particularly been interested in mating the power of painting with the power of photography.
Jeff Cowen uses only analogue photography in a variety of negative formats from 35mm to 8 x 10. All the prints are made in his customised darkroom. The analogue image taken by the camera is not the final product, but marks only the starting point of the artistic reflection of the motif. The prints are attacked with various chemical procedures, mark-making, brushwork, and often contain post-darkroom finishing techniques of painting and collage. The images are not presented flat and take on a more three-dimensional, sculptural and textural look. One of his chief concerns in his art practice is to build on the rich history of the photographic past, and to explore and expand the limits of the medium. Following the attacks of 11, September 2001 he moved to Paris. In 2007 he relocated his studio to the Kreuzberg district of Berlin.
Jeff Cowen’s works are included in numerous public and private collections. In 2019, the private collection MAP from Bremen acquired a substantial body of Cowen’s work. His works have been shown in Kunsthalle Bremerhaven, Germany; DZ Bank Art Collection Frankfurt, Germany; Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany; Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Russia; among others.
In 2021, Jeff Cowen was nominated and awarded the Pollock Krasner Grant for Fine Art Still Photography. In 2024, Cowen will show his latest project, Provence Works at the Huis Marseille Museum for Photography in Amsterdam.