NEW YORK, NY.- James Cohan presents All About 25, an exhibition celebrating the gallery’s twenty-fifth anniversary, on view from May 16 through July 25, 2025 at James Cohan’s 52 Walker Street location.
All About 25 features the work of artists who have shaped the gallery’s past, present, and future. Many of the paintings, sculptures and installations made specifically for the exhibition symbolically tie to the number 25.
Participating artists include: Ranti Bam, Kathy Butterly, Alexandre da Cunha, Simon Evans and Sarah Lannan, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Spencer Finch, Gauri Gill, Michelle Grabner, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Federico Herrero, Yun-Fei Ji, Byron Kim, Mernet Larsen, Teresa Margolles, Kelly Sinnapah Mary, Josiah McElheny, Jesse Mockrin, Lee Mullican, Christopher Myers, Jordan Nassar, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Kaloki Nyamai, Scott Olson, Eamon Ore-Giron, Katie Paterson, Naudline Pierre, Matthew Ritchie, Hiraki Sawa, Shinichi Sawada, Yinka Shonibare, Elias Sime, Diane Simpson, Alison Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Tomaselli, Bill Viola, and XU ZHEN®.
A silver anniversary commemorates the 25th year of a significant event and represents the enduring nature and brilliance of a long-lasting relationship or achievement. Spencer Finch’s, Ag, 2008, is a series of 10 gelatin silver photographs, featuring modern pieces of silver (trays, pitchers and bowls) from a private collection in Philadelphia. The title references the symbol for the element in the periodic table. Collapsing the medium and subject–using silver to create images of silver–these photographs confound the distinctions between representation and the real.
New works by Byron Kim, Josiah McElheny and Jordan Nassar explore the mathematical and spatial potentials of the number 25 to diverse effect. Kim’s Synecdoche (1991–present) is an ongoing project of portraiture that now comprises more than 500 10 x 8 in. panels in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art. Each panel is painted a single color recording the skin tone of the sitter. Synecdoche was a watershed for the artist when it debuted at the 1993 Whitney Biennial, and subsequent iterations have been seen in installations and exhibitions around the world. For this exhibition, Kim documented the skin tones of 25 members of the James Cohan team, continuing his explorations of the history of abstract painting, the problems of color and vision, and issues of human identity and existence while creating a collective portrait of a community.
Nassar’s newest embroidery, Mountain of Years, 2025, depicts cascading hills expanding across the field of the canvas. The artist renders the striated mountainscape in 25 distinct shades of rich greens and cool blue threads, offset by a peachy-pink sky.
McElheny’s Interior Geometry I, 2025, references a universe of unlimited possibility in a hand-cut and polished glass tetrakis hexahedron with 24 facets, its entirety constituting the 25th. The transparent and reflective surfaces of the suspended solid glass form act as both mirrors and windows, where we can peer inside and see ourselves. With morphing perspectives and reflections, the work celebrates a multiplicity and diversity of perspective.
“Reaching this milestone is both humbling and energizing,” says James Cohan, founder and principal. “Our journey has been defined by incredible partnerships with artists whose vision and dedication continue to inspire us. This anniversary celebrates their work.”
