Charlotte Edey – Corner/Fold

James Cohan is pleased to present “Corner/Fold”, an exhibition of new work by Charlotte Edey, her first exhibition with James Cohan, and her first solo exhibition in New York.

Charlotte Edey’s multimedia works depict dreamlike worlds that explore architectures of the interior, both bodily and domestic. Edey combines pastel, embroidery, beadwork, stained glass, and woodworking to pull viewers through spatial and psychological scenes that are immersive and illusive. The artist creates transfixing hybrid surfaces that shimmer and shift with changing light, imbuing her compositions with a slippery, fragmentary quality. Magical realism is rearticulated as an aesthetic device to mine the uncanny similarities between ourselves and our built environment. Historically gendered mediums like embroidery and weaving become, in Edey’s hands, powerful vehicles for reconciling divisions between the metaphysical and material, the internal and external.

The works in “Corner/Fold” use the framework of the labyrinth as the point of departure, diving into several material and conceptual tensions: surface versus depth, proximity versus separation, tightness and looseness, lost and found. The labyrinth forms both a narrative and spatial structure, shaped as much by memory, selfhood, movement and desire as by path, wall, and staircase. Repeated motifs of circles, spirals, spools of thread and spherical apertures emphasize the symbolism of the center as a site of return rather than resolution.

This exhibition is anchored by Edey’s two largest works to date, “Gauze” and “Fold above fold”, both 2026. Each reaching nearly eight feet in height and width, these immersive wall works lure viewers into an ever-shifting maze of choreographed movement. Abstract forms rendered in vibrant pastel and beadwork become dizzying layers of overlapping chambers, windows, and passages, which are interrupted and redirected by the overlaid gridded frames. Edey moves with dexterity across media within individual compositions, highlighting the tactile and textural pleasures of her practice. The satiny wood of her artist frames, the velvety matte of her pastels, and the shimmering beadwork are both exquisite examples of surface treatment and a sophisticated strategy of visual seduction.

“Corner/Fold” features three floor-based stained glass sculptures reminiscent of wishing wells. Viewers encounter these forms by peering down into their softly uplit interiors in a childlike way. Titled “Little Fable” after Franz Kafka’s absurdist tale of a cat and mouse in an increasingly shrinking space, the bodily experience of bending and compressing oneself to descend into a visual field plays with Edey’s interest in our ever-changing sense of location, orientation, and disorientation. Inside these wells, Edey has translated her visual language of knots, loops, and orbs into mesmeric stained glass, illuminated from below.

Charlotte Edey (b.1992, Manchester) received her BFA from Chelsea School of Art and Design and her MFA from The Royal Drawing School, where she was the recipient of the 2022 Cass Art Prize. Charlotte Edey lives and works in London.

Gallery hours Tue-Sat 10 am – 6 pm

Exhibition Duration 09 January – 14 February 2026

www.jamescohan.com

Location:
James Cohan Gallery
52 Walker Street
10013 New York, NY
United States