Frank Hyder: From Life: The KuBe Art Center, Beacon, NY

Ethan Cohen Gallery at the KuBe Art Center is pleased to present a selection of paintings, drawings, and sculptures by Frank Hyder. Following the gallery’s New York exhibition 1970s & Now earlier this year, the Beacon presentation explores the connections between Hyder’s painterly origins and the sculptural language that has defined much of his career.

Several years ago, a chance encounter led to the rediscovery of nearly 200 paintings created in the early 1970s and stored in Hyder’s studio for over five decades. These works reveal a confident artistic voice at a formative moment, with figures, interiors, and everyday scenes rendered with a sensitivity to light and surface. Their rediscovery prompted Hyder’s return to painting, yielding nearly one hundred new works over the past year, including paintings on canvas and dimensional painted constructions cut from plywood.

Figurative and largely observational, Hyder’s recent works depict people he knows, intimate domestic scenes, swimmers, animals, and moments drawn from everyday life. His drawings and painted cutouts share this attentiveness to daily experience, moving between the intimacy of works on paper and the physical presence of sculpture. Across these forms, his handling of color remains vibrant, expressive, and assured.

The presentation also includes sculptures from The Janis Project, an ongoing international endeavor inspired by the monumental heads of Easter Island and the Olmec civilization, as well as the Roman god Janus. Conceived as a message of equality and goodwill, the project brings art into public spaces to encourage conversation and connection.

Hyder’s work has been exhibited extensively worldwide and is held in public collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, and the James A. Michener Art Museum. His solo exhibition Figuring Frank is on view at the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, Montana, through December 31, 2026.

Hours: Every Saturday, Tours at 2 pm

About The KuBe Art Center:

Established in 2011, The KuBe (Kunsthalle Beacon) is a 127,000 square foot art center located in Beacon New York at the site of a former high school. The KuBe Art Center includes the Joan Lebold Cohen and Jerome A. Cohen Center for Visual Arts, The Chongmao and Zheng Ruyu Theater, which hosts experimental community film, theater, and dance projects. Additionally, The Kube provides 48 artists' studios, and commercial office spaces which have hosted a variety of community-based business ranging from puppeteers to political campaign headquarters. In 2023 the KuBe Art Center received The Arts Mid-Hudson Arts Organization Executive Arts Award. We wish to extend an invitation to you to join the Hudson Valley community in Beacon to discover our emerging incubator and visit exhibitions of internationally acclaimed artists in our expansive galleries.

About Ethan Cohen Gallery:

Ethan Cohen Gallery is a curatorial force in global contemporary art, known for championing both emerging and established voices across continents. With a foundation in post-war contemporary, the gallery has earned international recognition for its early and sustained support of Chinese Avant-Garde artists, as well as its forward-thinking embrace of emerging talent and contemporary African art. Ethan Cohen’s eye for the extraordinary has helped launch the careers of artists who are now widely celebrated, while continuing to introduce collectors and institutions to the most compelling new voices of each generation. As noted in Slant Magazine, Ethan Cohen has been called “one of the most influential art dealers in the world.”

Founded in 1987 as Art Waves/Ethan Cohen in SoHo, the gallery was among the first to present Chinese experimental art to the U.S. audience. Today, Ethan Cohen Gallery operates from two locations in Chelsea, NYC and The KuBe Art Center in Beacon, New York, a 127,000 square foot interdisciplinary hub for exhibitions, performance, and artistic dialogue. The gallery also maintains a strong global presence through participation in major international art fairs. Across all platforms, Ethan Cohen Gallery curates museum-quality shows, nurtures cross-cultural dialogue, and remains committed to discovering and amplifying radical, relevant, and resonant art.

Press Contacts:

Donna Mikkelsen: donna@ecfa.com | Lara Kamhi: lara@ecfa.com