NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.- The New Britain Museum of American Art presents "New/Now - Amy Cohen", on view through April 7, 2002. Amy Cohen of Long Island, N.Y., describes herself as a visual artist whose work is strongly rooted in language. She is drawn to art with a subtext; work about people and ideas that makes a contribution to the arts as well as to our understanding of broader sociological issues.

Target Areas: Human Stories in Collage, her NEW/NOW exhibition, is a case in point. The collage art was inspired by the stories shared with the artist in formal and informal interviews with volunteers in her community. Cohen asked the participants to share a secret or memory that they feel has marked them for life. People responded with experiences that scarred them physically or psychologically.

Using a variety of vintage and contemporary printed materials, the artist says she has interpreted and symbolically depicted their stories to create composite portraits reflecting the true target areas that make us human. The backdrop for each image is a vintage police target silhouette, numbered according to how vulnerable a particular area is to a bullet.