Cena Pohl Crane

Cena Pohl Crane is an oil painter who recently left Brooklyn for Margaretville, New York in the Catskill Mountains. Growing up just north of New York City, Cena loved spending hours at the Met Museum as a teenager, equally enthralled by he figurative storytelling of the old masters, as by the bold marks and colors of the Abstract and German Expressionists. Inspired to study Painting at Washington University in St. Louis (where the spirits of Beckman and Guston lingered in the studios), she received her BFA in 1989.

Like many of her idols, Cena’s work conveys a sense of discomfort with modern life—its fragmentation, loneliness, and the urgent need for change. Bold, vibrant colors dominate her oil paintings, creating a tension and energy that leave little room for calm. Cena’s paintings explore the internal experience of navigating a digitally-driven world, and the transformative energy of living in the body of a woman. It is no wonder her figures often dissolve into their surroundings, further emphasizing the dissonance in her work. Cena currently estabilishing a new artist studio in the Catskills where she is always eager to welcome those interested in her work.

All work is for sale unless otherwise indicated.