Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together
Artwork by Santiago Cohen

Tree of Life, 2026, Oil on canvas, 34 x 34 inches.

Organized by the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey in collaboration with Overlook Medical Center, this exhibition presents the work of artist Santiago Cohen. Cohen is a Mexican-American artist and author. He has worked as a designer, illustrator, and animator for HBO, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and PBS, and has written and illustrated more than 25 children’s books and graphic novels. He has made a successful career in fine art, with shows in galleries and museums in New York, New Jersey, and Mexico. Additionally, he has been the artistic director of the Day of the Dead Parade in Jersey City since 2014.

Artist Statement
As a visual storyteller, I want the viewer of my work to discover interesting political, social, or environmental stories; it doesn’t matter if it coincides with my point of view. There is not a single way to narrate them, because the viewer sometimes relates what I am showing to their own experience. I am interested in serial image narration.

When I work on each one of my artworks, I explore inside my head to discover what is affecting me in that moment. In my process, I depend on the mistakes that I make so I can correct them to make unusual and oneiric landscapes. I generally look for images that I love and combine them with memories of my life to tell stories.