Monday, May 30, 2011

IRA COHEN: IN MEMORIAM

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The Legacy, Ira Cohen (1935-2011)

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William Burroughs captured in 1966 by Ira Cohen in his Mylar Chamber built in his New York loft

Ira Levin was a prolific multimedia artist and traveller who created a constellation of connections between The Beats, underground artists, writers, theatre people, filmmakers, occultists, poets. There is some wonderful material on him in this collection of links:

Psychedelic Photography by Ira Cohen on chillipaprika , an excellent showcase of his wide-ranging photographic work.

October Gallery. Photo showcase of the work exhibited there from 29 November 2007 to 26 January 2008

Chris Salewicz’s obituary in The Independent

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Ira Cohen (1979) by Gerard Malanga. Source: John Coulthart’s wonderful blog Feuilleton

View Cohen ‘s short psychedelic, avant garde film “The Invasion of Thunder Bolt Pagoda” here.

‘Ira Cohen made phantasmagorical films that became cult classics. He developed a way of taking photographs in mesmerizing, twisting colors, including a famous one of Jimi Hendrix. He published works by authors like William Burroughs and the poet Gregory Corso. He wrote thousands of poems himself. He wrote “The Hashish Cookbook” under the name Panama Rose. He called himself “the conscience of Planet Earth.” But his most amazing work of art was inarguably Mr. Cohen himself’

Ira Cohen, an Artist and a Touchstone, Dies at 76. Obituary/New York Times

Ira Cohen: The story of a Storyteller

Ira Cohen remembered on The Allen Ginsberg Project

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Image from Ira Cohen’s film ‘King of Straw Mats. See more of his varied work at bigbridge.org

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