About Yenny Cocq

Working in figurative sculpture, I am challenged by one of nature's most complex and beautiful forms the human body. I have refined the human figure to basic and almost geometric forms. I love to use the human form to portray an emotional idea or story. Giving life to my subjects by capturing their innermost emotions, I express my own romantic longings. My romantic couples embody their unique body language and in their unison they display an emergent emotional expression. With simple lines and planes I work to capture the essence of these gestures.
The couples are separate individuals but bound in nonverbal communication. I am intrigued by the minute nuances in shift of posture or angle of the head to convey a different expression"

In addition to creating something visually pleasing, it is my hope that viewers merge their experiences, perceptions and passions reflected in my sculpture with their own. It is my wish to create and provoke something unique for each viewer. Some may be prompted to playing dolls with the individual figures to change their intended communication and make their expression their own thus changing the story by making them a part of their own relationship.

A little description of the creation and casting process:

Creating an original bronze sculpture is quite involved and labor intensive. I start out modeling the original either in clay or another sculpting material from wax to wood.
I sculpt with the human emotion and connected ness in mind. All of my little couples and families should convey that bond. Upon completion a silicone rubber mold is created and covered with plaster for multiple reuses for my larger work. Then liquid hot wax is poured into to mould. When it's hardened if can easily be released from the mold. The unfinished wax copies are carefully reworked with sculpting tools. Once the waxes are to my satisfaction, I send them to the foundry. They attach the spruces, dip them into a ceramic mixture until a shell of about and inch has built up. Then they are adding the waxes in their shell to the kiln. The wax is molten out and the negative is retained in the ceramic shell mold. Then the liquid bronze ( it's super hot) is poured into this second mold. After a cooling time the shell is destroyed. 
The cleanup take a while and the rest is sandblasted. The spruces are roughly cut with a plasma cutter. Then I receive the raw bronze back. Some welding might be necessary, metal cutting and chasing, sanding. After the raw bronze is once more sandblasted and carefully cleaned the patina is applied either with heat or the application takes a while to oxidize. Sometimes it takes a few days to get the desired result. Then parts are highlighted by polishing and a protective coating is sprayed on as a last finishing step.


My paintings:
As an artist I am deeply inspired by nature. In my paintings and monotypes, this translates into a complex mix of emotions and color, depicting what I perceive of my natural surroundings. In them I attempt to capture the varied experiences of my life as a landscape designer and naturalist. I use organic permutations of line, color, and brushstroke to represent indigenous forms of plant life and their landscape settings, and portray their intimate relationship with our planet. When applying layers of opaque under-paintings, mixed with transparent glazes, I am reminded of the sensation of holding fresh earth, moist and pregnant with potential growth. As I manipulate inks and color on the plate, using “pour-and-shift” printmaking techniques, and paint media to represent landscapes, I feel a sense of control over the obstinate atmospheric elements of the weather systems I create. 

As in the creation of the landscapes, my depiction of architectural elements reveals my need to express the psychological drama of life, as explored through manmade structures, in which layers of personal history lie within the walls. Painting architectural elements at precise angles, with opaque and transparent brushstrokes, creates a personal serenity in my work. Conversely, at times it is transformed into a geometric embodiment of my emotional states, repressed memories, and imagined moments, including at times, the familiar monotony and quiescence of my life. 

I view my art as a personal investigation into nested interconnecting systems within systems. The landscapes and interior architectures become metaphors for drama, pathos, and moods. It is the investigation into the importance of these familiar subjects that allows me to materialize my perceptions of consciousness. The process of making these subjects transform from an internalized feeling into a physical image is very satisfying, as my work becomes the witness to a visual truth within the artistic discussion of my life.