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{{Infobox_Person  

{{Infobox_Person  

| name        = [[Person_First_Name:=Liz]] [[Person_Last_Name:=Cohen]]

| name        = [[Person_First_Name:=Liz]] [[Person_Last_Name:=Cohen]]

}}

}}

'''Liz Cohen''' is an American [[performance art|performance artist]] currently specializing in an [[installation art]] project called ''Bodywork''.  This is a long-term exploration of the conversion vehicle / [[lowrider]] culture, as well as the experience of a woman as a custom car model.  Cohen is taking an [[East Germany|East German]] compact car called a [[Trabant]] and modifying it so that it will be able to convert by means of hydraulic or pneumatic mechanisms into a [[Directory:Chevrolet|Chevy]] [[Directory:Chevrolet/El Camino|El Camino]].  Simultaneously, Cohen is trying to "convert" her own physical body into one worthy of a car-show bikini model.

'''Liz Cohen''' is an American [[performance art|performance artist]] currently specializing in an [[installation art]] project called ''Bodywork''.  This is a long-term exploration of the conversion vehicle / [[lowrider]] culture, as well as the experience of a woman as a custom car model.  Cohen is taking an [[East Germany|East German]] compact car called a [[Trabant]] and modifying it so that it will be able to convert by means of hydraulic or pneumatic mechanisms into a [[Directory:Chevrolet|Chevy]] [[Directory:Chevrolet/El Camino|El Camino]] -- a ''Trabantimino''.  Simultaneously, Cohen is trying to "convert" her own physical body into one worthy of a car-show bikini model.

The artist is working with grant funding for her project from [[Directory:Creative Capital|Creative Capital]], an arts group based in [[Directory:New York City|New York City]],<ref name="Creative Capital">{{cite news|title=Grantee Page: Bodywork-Liz Cohen|publisher=[[Directory:Creative Capital|Creative Capital]]|url=http://channel.creative-capital.org/grantee_198.html|accessdate=2007-04-01}}</ref> plus the generous educational and equipment support provided by the [http://www.elwoodbodyworks.com/ Elwood Body Works] in [[Directory:Scottsdale, Arizona|Scottsdale]].  

The artist has worked with grant funding for her project from [[Directory:Creative Capital|Creative Capital]], an arts group based in [[Directory:New York City|New York City]],<ref name="Creative Capital">{{cite news|title=Grantee Page: Bodywork-Liz Cohen|publisher=[[Directory:Creative Capital|Creative Capital]]|url=http://channel.creative-capital.org/grantee_198.html|accessdate=2007-04-01}}</ref> plus the generous educational and equipment support provided by the [http://www.elwoodbodyworks.com/ Elwood Body Works] in [[Directory:Scottsdale, Arizona|Scottsdale]].  

== Background ==

== Background ==

After college, Cohen had to decide between pursuing a Ph.D. in philosophy or becoming a photographer, and she grabbed her camera and headed to Panama. She spent four years photographing transgendered sex workers along the Panama Canal Zone.  Panama was a unique country for Cohen to experience as a Colombian-American, because Panama has been heavily influenced (in many ways adversely) by both Colombia and the United States.  She worked on this project for years, going back and forth between Panama City and [[Directory:San Francisco|San Francisco]], where she enrolled in a MFA program at the [[Directory:California College for the Arts|California College for the Arts]].

After college, Cohen had to decide between pursuing a Ph.D. in philosophy or becoming a photographer, and she grabbed her camera and headed to Panama. She spent four years photographing transgendered sex workers along the Panama Canal Zone.  Panama was a unique country for Cohen to experience as a Colombian-American, because Panama has been heavily influenced (in many ways adversely) by both Colombia and the United States.  She worked on this project for years, going back and forth between Panama City and [[Directory:San Francisco|San Francisco]], where she enrolled in a MFA program at the [[Directory:California College for the Arts|California College for the Arts]].

== Genesis of ''Bodywork'' ==

== Genesis of ''Bodywork'' ==

<blockquote>"I started thinking an interesting way for me to push my documentary practice would be to become part of what I was looking at. I started to think about things I'm just not supposed to be a part of and how I could become a part of it during the process of photographing it. I keyed in on building a car and becoming a lowrider."</blockquote>

<blockquote>"I started thinking an interesting way for me to push my documentary practice would be to become part of what I was looking at. I started to think about things I'm just not supposed to be a part of and how I could become a part of it during the process of photographing it. I keyed in on building a car and becoming a lowrider."</blockquote>

While studying under an artist residency program at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in [[Directory:Stuttgart, Germany|Stuttgart]], [[Directory:Germany|Germany]], she found the car that she knew would be perfect for her project: a [[1987]] two-stroke Trabant 601 Deluxe.  She purchased it in [[Directory:Berlin, Germany|Berlin]] for $400, insisting to her more cautious boyfriend at the time that it would be safe enough to drive on the Autobahn back to Stuttgart.  "I'm fucking driving this car," Cohen snapped.  They survived the trip, despite a top highway speed of 40 miles per hour.  Shipping the clunker to the United States cost at least seven times more than the car itself.

While studying under an artist residency program at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in [[Directory:Stuttgart, Germany|Stuttgart]], [[Directory:Germany|Germany]], she found the car that she knew would be perfect for her project: a [[1987]] two-stroke Trabant 601 Deluxe.  She purchased it in [[Directory:Berlin, Germany|Berlin]] for $400, insisting to her more cautious boyfriend at the time that it would be safe enough to drive on the Autobahn back to Stuttgart.  "I'm fucking driving this car," Cohen snapped.  They survived the trip, despite a top highway speed of 40 miles per hour.  Shipping the clunker to the United States cost at least seven times more than the car itself.

== The project takes shape ==

== The project takes shape ==

Cohen has been exhausted by the amount of work and time that has gone into turning this Trabant into a metamorphic muscle car.  But she's stubborn and insists that the mechanics she works under only show her the way, not actually do the work for her.  This has included replacing the tiny East German engine with a mighty American V8 block, motorizing a linear extension shaft to "stretch" the car to El Camino proportions, and even front- and rear-wheel hydraulics to get the car "jumping" like any other lowrider.

Cohen has been exhausted by the amount of work and time that has gone into turning this Trabant into a metamorphic muscle car.  But she's stubborn and insists that the mechanics she works under only show her the way, not actually do the work for her.  This has included replacing the tiny East German engine with a mighty American V8 block, motorizing a linear extension shaft to "stretch" the car to El Camino proportions, and even front- and rear-wheel hydraulics to get the car "jumping" like any other lowrider.

With the car giving her lots of trouble, Cohen has focused equal time on her physical reconstruction from skinny photographer to sexy lowrider model.  Naturally thin, Cohen didn't have to worry about weight loss; rather, she needed to put on some bulk and muscle to emulate the bikini models that adorn car magazines and shows.

With the car giving her lots of trouble, Cohen has focused equal time on her physical reconstruction from skinny photographer to sexy lowrider model.  Naturally thin, Cohen didn't have to worry about weight loss; rather, she needed to put on some bulk and muscle to emulate the bikini models that adorn car magazines and shows.

For a much more detailed narrative of Cohen's story, please read the [http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2006-10-05/news/hard-body/full Phoenix New Times] article about her.

For a much more detailed narrative of Cohen's story, please read the [http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2006-10-05/news/hard-body/full Phoenix New Times] article about her.

== Interview with Don Barsellotti ==

== Interview with Don Barsellotti ==

<br>

<br>

==Photo gallery==

==Photo gallery==

<gallery>

<gallery>

image:Liz_Cohen_in_pink.jpg

image:Liz_Cohen_in_pink.jpg

image:Liz_Cohen_working_out.jpg

image:Liz_Cohen_working_out.jpg

</gallery>

</gallery>

 

==References==

==References==

</div>

</div>

==External links==

==External links==

*[http://laurentgodin.com/ Laurent Godin] Cohen's primary gallery in [[Directory:Paris, France|Paris, France]].

 

*[http://laurentgodin.com/ Laurent Godin] Cohen's primary gallery in [[Directory:Paris, France|Paris, France]]

 

*[http://onestar.laboratories.com:16080/books_pdf/cohen_2_int_web.pdf The 5 Ps] A photo book of Bill Cherry's nearly 150 tools (''warning'': very large PDF file)

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*[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/2915359199?ie=UTF8&tag=mywikibizcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=2915359199 ''Bodywork''] Liz Cohen's book at Amazon.com

*[http://www.myspace.com/trabantamino trabantamino] Cohen's page on MySpace

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