NEW YORK, NY.- James Cohan Gallery presents CABINETS OF CURIOSITY, featuring over 50 objects ranging from 6,000 B.C. to 2011 A.D. Collected together, these seemingly unrelated objects from around the world collapse time and space. As a group the objects pulsate with a spiritual energy that comes from their capricious juxtapositions. On their own, each object tells its own unique story of origin and use. The exhibition is on view until June 1, 2011.

The question posed by the great Argentinian author Luis Borges is brought to mind: “Do books on a bookshelf speak to one another?”

The original curiosity cabinets—started during the 16th century—were often entire rooms that housed a broad collection of objects such as paintings and sculptures, natural and man-made objects, and objects with alleged magical qualities.

Our cabinets feature pieces from over twenty distinct regions—from the North American continent to Chad and Niger in Africa, from Mongolia, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan to the Korean Peninsula. They fall into a number of categories including natural and geological objects, ethnographic and anthropological objects, religious instruments, masks and curiosities.

Highlights include a Danish Neolithic grey flint axe (2,000 B.C.), an ensemble of European Bronze Age bracelets and hair spirals made of gold (1,000 B.C.), and a set of miniature masks worn by monkeys that accompanied itinerant countryside theatre performances in Guizhou Province in Southern China during the 19th and 20th centuries.

CABINETS OF CURIOSITY is organized in partnership with Joseph G. Gerena Fine Art.