Artwork by Santiago Cohen goes on display at Overlook Medical Center in Summit starting Wednesday, Sept. 16. Cohen is a Mexican-American artist whose animation credits include Emmy and Peabody Award-winning HBO children's programs.
The exhibition, "Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together," runs through Friday, Nov. 13. The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey organized the show in collaboration with the hospital as part of its Community Galleries program.
The opening falls during National Hispanic Heritage Month, observed Sept. 15 through Oct. 15. The exhibition continues about a month beyond that window.
Who is Santiago Cohen?
Cohen has built a career across animation, illustration and fine art. He worked as art director and designer at The Ink Tank Animation Studio in New York from 1992 to 2004, developing animations for HBO, PBS, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. His work contributed to Emmy Award-winning HBO programs including "Garden of Poetry," "How Do You Spell God?" and "Goodnight Moon." He also earned a Peabody Award for HBO Children's Programming.
He has written and illustrated more than 25 children's books and graphic novels. His most recent, "Secrets of a Lost Diary," was published by Fantagraphics in 2024. He holds a master's degree in communication design from Pratt Institute in New York.
Since 2014, Cohen has served as artistic director of the Day of the Dead Parade in Jersey City. His fine art has shown in galleries and museums in New York, New Jersey and Mexico.
In his artist statement for the exhibition, Cohen described his approach to painting.
"When I work on each one of my artworks, I explore inside my head to discover what is affecting me in that moment," he wrote. "In my process, I depend on the mistakes that I make so I can correct them to make unusual and oneiric landscapes."
Art in a hospital setting
The exhibition grows out of an ongoing partnership between the Visual Arts Center, based at 68 Elm St. in Summit, and Atlantic Health Overlook Medical Center. That partnership includes an Arts & Health Artist Fellowship that trains artists to work in healthcare settings, engage with patients and lead staff wellness workshops.
Among the featured works is "Tree of Life," a 2026 oil on canvas measuring 34 by 34 inches. The painting depicts a stylized tree with a thick brown trunk growing from a dark blue globe. Its green foliage holds dozens of pale, red-haired human faces in place of leaves, with small birds scattered among them against a deep blue night sky.
Cohen's paintings often draw on personal memory. In a Sept. 2 video interview with Alfa Art Gallery, discussing work in a separate exhibition, he described starting a painting from a tiny photograph of his mother as a teenager in Cuernavaca, Mexico, then transforming the ground beneath her into a river as the image took on a life of its own.
No public opening reception or gallery hours have been announced. The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey can be reached at 68 Elm St. in Summit or through artcenternj.org.
