Barnett Cohen's paintings, performances, and mixed media works collectively serve as meditations on the space between thought and the self and between the self and the body.

Cohen's recent collage paintings are made from found stickers, a mass material most often used on our cars, laptops and objects to brand them, and ourselves, with the identity of our choosing.

They are constellations of contemporary mark making and chronicle the vast array of language and imagery as it moves through public space.

After researching and sourcing the stickers, he die cuts each one, dipping it in an acrylic liquid polymer, and thoughtfully situates it on the canvas.

Stickers like these often act as self-declarations, but in these works, the overload of content—branding, language and pop culture references—puts these declarations on shaky ground, as no singular identity can rise above the colorful deluge.

The flood of disjointed bits of text and image embedded in these works is linked to Cohen's use of language in his performances.

Originating out of a daily practice of automatic writing, Cohen’s scripts begin as stream of consciousness verse, and result in performances that test the limits of language and the ability to connect with others.

SOMETHINNNNGISALWAYSSSSWRONGGGG posits that a radical conversation with our feelings, to better acquaint ourselves with why we do what we do, might be the first step toward revolutionary action.

"Written entirely in verse, Cohen’s script peaks and plummets, its darkest moments met with absurd humor. Tirades culminating in outbursts precede restrained, matter-of-fact statements. As if scrolling through a news feed, topics like environmental degradation and police brutality filter in and out. One performer wonders, passively, “Where do all the plastic bins painted with peanut butter end up? Is that smog in the distance coating my lungs from afar?” -Hanna Spears

His aim is to create pieces that are strange yet approachable while remaining slightly confrontational but fundamentally honest. Not a play, a piece of theater or a performance. But something between all those three concepts.