Mark Cohen 1970-Present

From my notes on the Mark Cohen Exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art:

 The photography of Mark Cohen is candid and exposing of our society. His wide angle lens create a broad depth of field, and the aggression in his photo's give a greater sense of the reality of the audience.  The flash used is intrusive and develops an exposed sense of his subjects.

The gallery that we looked at of his photos collects photos taken as early as 1972 and as recent as 2008.  All the photo's were taken in Pennsylvania, developing a sense of time, growth and the merger between the country side and the city.  The museum curator told us that the photos were widely criticized in the 1970's because they didn't understand the images of sex, depth and anxiety.  Due to the similar settings of all the pictures, a novelization is made between the photos developing the loose connections found in the area.
The pictures even begin to encapsulate James Joyces saying, "Everything happens in one day" depicting all the different parts of society in Pennsylvania.  

Many of the pictures in the gallery captured a transition between old in new.  This was found in the evolution of the style of the people and the evolution of the buildings and structures, and the ware and age of the people and the buildings .  However the strongest photo that i found in the gallery was titled "Boy in Yellow Shirt Smoking." It compares the smoking and the candy, and the youth against a "grown up" activity.  The picture contrasts this sense of adulthood, and the ideals of the time having been taken in 1977.  Smoking was obviously not completely understood as detrimental to health.  The smiles on the children are chilling and the array of different ages in the photo make this a strong message about youth corruption.