A U D R A   K O H O U T

b.1968 - lives & works - New Orleans, Louisiana

@audra.kohout

There is whimsy, poetry, innocence and fantasy within Kohout’s boxes. The assemblages are balanced, wildly creative, and always compelling. Upon first glance, all seems innocent enough - pixies, dolls, animals, fairies and figurines interact within each of their own small theaters, the characters playing out elements of the human psyche. In some of the assemblages though, the milieu appears to be drawn from the Industrial Revolution era. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein comes to mind, as certain of Kohout’s characters seem to be involved with experiments, creating artificial life. Sometimes these figures take on the role of scientist or inventor - other characters are the subjects of failed or unstable results. There are partially mechanized people, incorporating machinery parts into their bodies, figures transmuting into part animal and bird. Wheels, ropes, pulleys, weights, scales, gears and machinery parts surround the central figures.

Audra Kohout has established a large number of collectors throughout the United States. The artist has been awarded numerous grants from the Louisiana Division of the Arts as well as other major foundations. The Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans presented The Ghost of Cornell, where many of Kohout’s box assemblages were exhibited with the works of Joseph Cornell. She was chosen for the Texas National exhibition in Austin, and continues to be invited to present her work in exhibitions throughout the country. Kohout lives and works in New Orleans.

Objects hold memory.

Drawn to what has been used, handled, and left behind, I gather fragments, doll parts, mechanisms, textiles, and relics, that carry traces of human presence. These elements, often worn or incomplete, are reassembled into intimate, theatrical spaces where quiet narratives unfold.

At first glance, the work suggests innocence, childhood, fantasy, play, but beneath the surface lies something more complex. Figures shift between states: human and animal, whole and altered, subject and experiment. Influences of machinery and invention weave through the compositions, hinting at control and vulnerability, creation and unraveling.

A sense of duality runs throughout the work, mirroring the tension between opposing forces within the self: innocence and experience, instinct and intellect, construction and collapse. These contrasts are not resolved, but held in balance, allowing each piece to exist in a state of suspension.

Rooted in the layered atmosphere of New Orleans, the work is shaped by a landscape where beauty, decay, sensuality, and spirit coexist. Each piece becomes a kind of psychological chamber, exploring memory, identity, and the unseen forces that shape who we become.

These assemblages are acts of reclamation, where objects, histories, and selves are reconstructed, reimagined, and held in suspension.