THE ARTIST AS MISS MARGATE
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In 1997 Steven Cohen made a significant gesture of origin for his work as an artist. On his show Camp concentration was a photograph taken of Cohen at age six, in a girl’s bikini and make-up, with his hair tied up in a ponytail: The artist as Miss Margate.

This act of childhood cross-dress-ing, with the artist-to-be posing proudly for the camera, draws a direct line from Cohen’s childhood to his work as performance artist, where the gay tradition of drag is employed and subverted as part of his artistic practice.

The photograph places autobiography in Cohen’s oeuvre as an important personal archive; it offers his life, his history and his social context as a way of reading his artistic production.

[TAXI art book 008 extract/ Jillian Carman /David Krut Publishing]

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« I was somewhere over the rainbow effect, and i couldn’t get rid of it and keep the chandelier image somehow, so i’m standing in for myself … »

Steven Cohen

STEVEN COHEN COMPANY
24 rue Succursale | 33000 Bordeaux | France

Samuel Mateu
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