This ink drawing on paper is part of a series I made in the spring of 2020. (17 x 12.5 in.)

I was inspired by the continued BLM protests against injustice, constriction and acceptance. Friction of course causes some energy of the motion to be converted into heat and can have dramatic consequences. As an abstract artist this was my celebration of Friction. My sculpture, drawings and paintings capture fleeting moments in this organic world dominated by chaos and change. The energy that natural forms temporarily contain yet inevitably transform particularly inspires me, I aim to explore the porous boundary between what is seen and felt, where perception and experience merge.

Marieken Cochius is a Dutch-born artist whose work is meditative and intuitive and often explores growth forms, movement of light and wind, root systems, and animal architecture. She is drawn to remote places where she studies nature and makes art inspired by it. Her work encompasses drawing, painting and sculpture. In 2021 Cochius received an NYSCA Decentralization Grant for an Individual Artist Commission. She is a 2020 recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), Emergency Grants COVID-19 Fund grant. In 2017 Cochius completed a public sculpture commission for the Village of Wappingers Falls, NY made possible by a grant from the Hudson River Foundation. Cochius’ work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and institutions in places ranging from New York City, NY, Berkeley, CA, Austin, TX, and Los Angeles, CA, to Japan, Germany and the Netherlands. She has participated in residencies including the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT. Cochius participated in recent group exhibitions at the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery at UConn Avery Point, CT; the Attleboro Museum, MA; Foundry Art Centre, St Charles, MO; Woodstock Artist Association and Museum, Woodstock, NY; Roxbury Arts Center, NY; The Ely Center, New Haven, CT; Ann Street Gallery, Newburgh, NY; Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY and more. Her work has been published in  Columbia Journal and featured in many Art/Literary/Poetry/University publications and collections in the USA and abroad. She currently lives in the Hudson Valley, New York.