Cordsen is well known for the stunning simplicity of her large scale, minimalist landscapes. Her compositions are often a calculated reduction in form – a fundamental distilling of beauty. With her camera as access point, Cordsen reveals ethereal and ambiguous worlds.

“Kate Cordsen’s landscapes are poetic and vaguely sexual. There is a tension between the specific and the abstract that draws one in.”
– Moda Magazine, 2010

“Her landscapes are, at first glance, simply meditative, but reveal impassioned and dramatic depths upon second and third looks.”
– Artscope, 2013

“The natural world… is transformed by Cordsen’s astonishing eye.”
– Hartford Courant, 2013

“Cordsen’s success has much to do with her instincts in emotional expression.”
– Artscope, 2013

In Indigo Landscapes, Cordsen explores the intersection between photography and painting. She combines 19th century and contemporary photographic processes and prints her work on heavy watercolor paper to create a muted, painterly palette. The inky, berry-stained washes set a languid, uncertain mood. Changes in weather, summer evening light, humid air, winter still, and heavy mist become washes of blue in this series of photographs. Cordsen embraces the natural and imperfect appeal of indigo. The layers of color, with their unexpected permutations and texture, convey a deep emotional quality.

Kate Cordsen (American, b.1964) lives in New York City and maintains a studio in Essex, Connecticut. She received a BA in East Asian studies from Washington and Lee University, has an MPP from Georgetown University and studied the history of art at Harvard University. She studied photography at The International Center of Photography. Her travels to some of the most remote places on earth and her years living in Asia have greatly influenced her spare aesthetic.