Burglar Bait
In Burglar Bait, Daniel Allen Cohen cleverly redefines the concept and design of a traditional safe. Instead of an opaque structure designed to conceal its treasures, Cohen’s safe is crafted from translucent materials, showcasing its neatly arranged stacks of cash. This inversion of visibility taps into the allure of forbidden luxury, inviting the viewer to confront their fascination with wealth. By placing the safe prominently on display, Cohen challenges the typical notion of hiding valuables in secret, protected spaces. The title hints at a dual purpose: to captivate would-be intruders and create a false sense of security. Yet beyond this practical intention, Burglar Bait speaks to the deeper connection between material wealth and personal identity. Much like classic portraiture where subjects display their opulence to signal status, Cohen’s work questions the illusion of value tied to possessions. Through this piece, he invites viewers to consider what we truly protect and why, exploring the false sense of security we derive from our material excess.
Prescriptions
Daniel Allen Cohen’s oversized prescription pads serve as a satirical critique on modern culture’s reliance on pharmaceutical solutions. These dramatically scaled replicas exaggerate the role of prescriptions as a quick fix for the myriad of “first-world problems” prevalent in American society. Each piece showcases a scripted remedy, like Happiness (1000 mg daily), highlighting the trivial nature of these challenges when viewed against global suffering. The prescription pad not only mocks the transactional nature of seeking happiness or fulfillment through medication, but it also emphasizes the skewed priorities and privilege that shape these societal woes. Through this work, Cohen invites viewers to reconsider the perceived gravity of their struggles and reflect on the disparity between personal inconveniences and genuine hardships elsewhere.
Precious Bars
Daniel Allen Cohen’s Precious Bars series captures the contrasting desires between childhood and adulthood, exploring how these cravings evolve from sweets to symbols of power and wealth. Cohen playfully reimagines iconic candy wrappers, transforming them into parodies that hint at luxury and status—Mr. Goodbar becomes Mr. Goldbar, KitKat is reborn as GoldRush, and Heath morphs into Wealth. Each wrapper is artfully torn, revealing not candy, but stacks of money or bars of gold within. By carefully altering recognizable branding without losing its essence, Cohen creates sculptures that simultaneously evoke nostalgia and desire. The pieces invite viewers in with their glossy allure, yet provoke deeper reflection on the maturation of our yearnings. Whether Cohen is critiquing this shift remains ambiguous, emphasizing instead the viewer’s role in discerning what these symbols represent in their own lives.
Archived Works
Sweets
Tumbling Tablets
Tumbling Tablets is Daniel Allen Cohen’s satirical take on the classic game of Jenga, using the familiar format to craft a poignant commentary on the pharmaceutical industry. The game’s pieces are reimagined as oversized Xanax tablets, metaphorically stacking up the ease with which these pills are prescribed and accessed. With each pull of a tablet, players face the looming risk of their tower collapsing, mirroring how lives can crumble under the weight of dependency. This piece offers a sharp critique of Big Pharma, particularly targeting companies like Pfizer, while shining a light on the widespread prescription practices that have made Xanax a go-to solution for millions worldwide. Despite its playful exterior, Tumbling Tablets delivers a potent narrative about fragility, self-medication, and the consequences of unchecked pharmaceutical influence.
Benjamins Bread
Daniel Allen Cohen’s Benjamin’s Bread series cleverly combines contemporary slang with cultural critique, reimagining the concept of “getting the bag” and “waking up to get the bread” through visually playful and thought-provoking art. The use of the term “bread” as a metaphor for money has deep roots in American culture, dating back to the 1930s and gaining widespread popularity in the 1960s counterculture era, where it symbolized the essentials of life and the pursuit of financial security. By framing cash as literal loaves of bread, Cohen taps into this historical context, while also offering a satirical commentary on modern economics.
Branded with a vintage-inspired Federal Reserve label, each loaf juxtaposes traditional banking imagery with contemporary references to inflation, cryptocurrency, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The work humorously critiques the shifting nature of wealth, from tangible bills to digital assets, and the evolving landscape of finance in a rapidly changing world. Through Benjamin’s Bread, Cohen explores the paradoxes of capitalism, where the pursuit of financial stability and success often blurs the lines between necessity and luxury. The series serves as both a nostalgic nod to cultural history and a reflection on the state of today’s economic systems.
Branded with a vintage-inspired Federal Reserve label, each loaf juxtaposes traditional banking imagery with contemporary references to inflation, cryptocurrency, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The work humorously critiques the shifting nature of wealth, from tangible bills to digital assets, and the evolving landscape of finance in a rapidly changing world. Through Benjamin’s Bread, Cohen explores the paradoxes of capitalism, where the pursuit of financial stability and success often blurs the lines between necessity and luxury. The series serves as both a nostalgic nod to cultural history and a reflection on the state of today’s economic systems.