Tyler Cohen

This watercolor painting, inspired by ‘I-Spy’ children’s books, portrays objects atop my dresser such as a photo of trees unbound from a book titled, ‘A Day in the Soviet Union,’ a mirror, an unopened beer from a friend, and a Thai-style print of a perfect orange smoothie, all in my bedroom in an intentional community that brings joy, stress, a feeling of ‘eco-conscious’ styled consumerism, and inspiration for dreams of large-scale, abundant, and lower than market cost housing developments in the future filled with gardens, play, art, and shared amenities. This painting shares my ritual of clinging to relics from my life-path, which also illuminates how abundance can become clutter in a liquid modern world of individualized consumers, and that if essential things such as housing can be liberated from ruthless market forces, then positive freedom– the opportunity to choose between many good things to do– will frame our reflections in the mirror.

This is such a cool opportunity! This made me start watercolor painting again and I have made a few additional paintings since creating this one.