Black-and-white artist explores color theory

Marcia R. Cohen is pretty easy to spot at major Atlanta art openings: she’s the artist who always wears black and white, right down to her checkered eyeglass frames.

This week you can find her at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (http://www.mocaga.org/), which opens a new exhibit by the artist, a cornerstone of Atlanta’s contemporary art scene for more than 30 years.

Cohen’s signature style and gregarious demeanor make it easy to overlook an extensive resume of international exhibitions, grants, commissions, fellowships, and lectures. Her latest body of work, “Sight Specific,” is supported by the museum’s Working Artist Project (WAP), designed to provide Atlanta artists with financial support, a studio assistant, a solo exhibition and a catalog.

For “Sight Specific,” Cohen —- a veteran of the Atlanta College of Art faculty who now teaches at SCAD-Atlanta —- puts color theory directly into practice, continuing her exploration of visual perception of color in both the natural world and in culture. Her pieces highlight how the semiotics of color, usually taken for granted, actually have a huge effect on how humans interact with their world. Colors express coded information such as safety (yellow for caution, red for danger), social expectations (green for natural, purple for royalty, etc.), product branding (Tiffany Blue, UPS brown, etc.) and a host of other iconographies.

Cohen’s work brings the discussion of color theory to life by effectively inviting the viewer to see and discuss how colors both relate to and form human perception on a fundamental level.

A site covering Atlanta’s visual arts, Art Relish, www.artrelish.com, will post live updates and video interviews from the event.

Steve Aishman teaches photography at SCAD-Atlanta. Jason Parker is SCAD’s manager of social media.

Art review

“Marcia R. Cohen: Sight Specific”

June 19 -Aug. 1. $5 to non-members, $1 to students with ID. Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. 404-367-8700. www.mocaga.org.

Artist lecture: 6:30 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. lecture. June 24. Free.