Exhibitions 2023: Ira: 30 Years of Standing Still

Artwork portraying the late Ira Cohen, a live model who inspired multiple generations of artists at UMass Dartmouth

Exhibition Dates

Exhibition Dates: May 31 - September 3, 2023
Opening Reception: AHA! Night, Thursday June 8, 6 to 8 pm
Additional events: AHA! Night, July 13, 6-8 pm & AHA! Night, August 10, 6-8 pm

Location

University Art Gallery and Gallery 244 at Star Store Campus, 715 Purchase Street in New Bedford, MA 02740

Gallery Hours: 9 am - 6 pm daily, closed on June 19 and July 4; open until 9 pm during AHA! Nights (second Thursday of every month)

All events are free and open to the public.

UMass Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts is proud to present Ira: 30 Years of Standing Still, an exhibition of artwork portraying the late Ira Cohen, a live model who inspired multiple generations of artists at UMass Dartmouth. Ira: 30 Years of Standing Still is displayed in the University Art Gallery and Gallery 244 from May 31 through September 3, 2023. An opening reception is planned for AHA! Night, Thursday, June 8, 6 to 8 pm at Star Store Campus, 715 Purchase Street in New Bedford, MA 02740. Light refreshments will be served. Additional events will take place on AHA! Night, July 13, 6-8 pm & AHA! Night, August 10, 6-8 pm. 

Ira: 30 Years of Standing Still, created specifically for UMass Dartmouth, is a tribute to Ira Cohen, who passed away in January of this year and whose presence shaped figurative art for the many artists who worked with him. The exhibition features drawings, paintings, sculptures, and animations created by current and former CVPA students and faculty.    

In addition, invited guest artists Mark Dion, Carl Simmons, and Amy Araujo have each created new artwork inspired by their memories of Ira and his "Upstair Books." Carl Simmons says, "I have been going to Ira's bookstore religiously since I was teenager over thirty years ago. As most of you know, it was a special sacred space. Ira was an exceptional and fascinating person for whom I have always had the profoundest respect and admiration. In creating this piece, comprised of nearly all genuine Ira materials (everything except the sink, a convincing stand-in for the real one), I have been given a unique and humbling opportunity to fetishistically curate, celebrate and meditate on Ira and the minutiae of his bookstore. This process for me has certainly served to begin easing the loss of this exceptional individual and this local New Bedford intellectual and cultural institution."

There will also be a display of artworks depicting Ira created by current and former students of UMass Dartmouth, shown on rotation on two TV screens at the CVPA Star Store Campus Bubbler Gallery during this three-month-long exhibition.

About Ira, UMass Dartmouth Professor Emerita Memory Holloway shares, “For over thirty years, Ira Cohen stood, sat and reclined as the model for the art department at the university. During that time over 8,500 observers drew, painted and made sculptures by looking at his lean form. Modeling, for Ira, was a serious undertaking, a profession that links him to a long history of  artist’s models. His seriousness was matched by those who found themselves in his presence and the many artists who worked with him were transformed by his knowledge, intelligence, and dry wit.” 

Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing Anthony Fisher states, “Irrefutably one of the best models there ever was, Ira literally embodied and evoked powerful feelings and emotions through beautifully nuanced poses. My life is much richer for having known Ira and so privileged for countless opportunities to teach students ways to enact his singular presence on paper or canvas.” 

Elena Peteva, Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing, shares, “Ira was an incredible model who inspired generations of artists. There was nothing staged or artificial about his poses; instead he gave expression to deeply felt human states in highly evocative poses which he held for impressive lengths of time. Ira upheld the centuries-long tradition of figure modeling for art with unmatched commitment. We are truly grateful to him for being such a special part of our lives.” 

Invited guest artist Mark Dion, whose installation “Upstair Books” was created for this exhibition, remarks, “Ira Cohen was an important person in my life, who I respected, admired, and considered a friend. Upstair Books was an important source for my artistic practice, supplying me with research resources as well as materials. Over the decades, I purchased thousands of books at the diminutive shop. I never visited New Bedford without stopping in to the store.” He adds, “I will miss the intellectual sparring with Ira, his ribbing and insults as well as his excellent literary taste. Despite his abrasive edges he was a person of dignity and intelligence, possessing a strong sense of fairness and justice. We could use more brilliant eccentrics like Mr. Ira Cohen populating the cultural landscape of New Bedford.”

The exhibition was co-organized by Viera Levitt and Elena Peteva with introductory text inspired by interviews with faculty and members of the CVPA community and written by Professor Emerita Memory Holloway. 

Special thanks to all who made this exhibition possible, including Anthony Fisher, Memory Holloway, Viera Levitt, Elena Peteva, Stacy Latt Savage, and Suzanne Schireson. Additional thanks to invited guest artists Mark Dion and Carl Simmons. And a sincere thank you to Ira’s family.

Ira: Standing Still for Thirty Years

For over 30 years, Ira Cohen stood, sat and reclined as the model for the art department at the university. During that time over 8,500 students drew, painted and made sculptures by looking at his lean form.

Modeling, for Ira, was a serious undertaking, a profession that links him to a long history of artist’s models. He would take up any pose that was asked of him and he could hold them without moving for short and long periods: for two minutes, for twenty minutes, for an hour. He bent, stretched and twisted his body in uncharacteristic poses that gave his students a remarkable range of aspects from which to work. He arched his back and rotated his head. He used his hands and feet to punctuate a continuous line that reached from top to bottom. To extend his body, he gripped the vertical overhead ropes that were suspended from the ceiling. He bent over chairs in awkward positions that placed him upside down. He complied when instructors draped him with heavy cloth, but most frequently he posed in the nude to give students training in seeing and registering the anatomy. In all of this, Ira’s seriousness was matched by those who found themselves in his presence and the many artists who worked with him were transformed by his knowledge, intelligence and dry wit. Ira cared about what was made in the studio. With Ira you didn’t fool around. You worked. Seriously. Hard. And you had results.

Models are rarely acknowledged for what they do and for the ways they inspire creativity. They help the student to master the complicated forms of the body. Ira’s presence gave additional meaning to learning how to draw. He was marvelous at posing and while he said little, he was in his own way, an instructor.

There were many reasons for the affection that students and faculty had for Ira. He rode his bicycle to work in all kinds of weather and then parked it in the studio like an appendage of his body. If you were driving to the university, you’d see him pedaling up the hill in his red plaid shirt and the hoodie that he wore for warmth. He ate carefully. If he saw you in the supermarket, he’d look at the contents of your cart and suggest alternatives. Most of all, students and faculty loved his used bookshop in New Bedford where books on all topics were piled up to the ceiling. The best of these were the big picture books on art, the theoretical texts, the histories and the novels. On days when he wasn’t modeling, Ira sat in the shop on a little stool and read. When he noticed you, and only when he felt like it, he’d ask what you were reading and what you thought about it, and he’d argue about the merit of your choice. Ira was opinionated on art, on politics, and on how to live. And when you made your way down the wooden staircase, from the shop, you often thought that he was right.

Memory Holloway
UMass Dartmouth Professor Emerita