Joseph Cohen’s ‘Looking at a flower’ exhibition to open at Rice Nov. 16

Following a monthslong Rice Public Art residency in the Weisman research laboratory of Rice University’s Department of Chemistry, Houston-based artist Joseph Cohen will present his findings and resulting artworks in a solo presentation, “Looking at a flower,” at the BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC).

An opening reception with the artist will be held Nov. 16 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the BRC first-floor lobby. “Looking at a flower” will run through April 8. The reception and exhibition hosted by Rice Public Art are both free and open to the public.

With guidance from Bruce Weisman, professor of chemistry and of materials science and nanoengineering, and his co-workers Stephen Sanchez and Sergei Bachilo, Cohen has focused his work on the use of carbon nanotubes to produce paintings, photos, sound works and prints that both address and illustrate the unique optical and physical properties of this nanomaterial. The Rice scientists helped Cohen prepare and purify samples of single-walled carbon nanotubes to use as fluorescent pigments in his paintings. They then built a customized optical device to image the artist’s designs that appear in the form of near-infrared light.

Pictured above in the Weisman research laboratory with one of Cohen’s works are, from left, Bachilo, Sanchez, Cohen and Weisman.

For more information about Cohen’s work at Rice, go to https://moody.rice.edu/exhibitions/joseph-cohen.