On Cohen Morano's Web blog, he comments on his collaborative art pieces. In one particular collaboration with Gary Taxall, a cartoon character wearing a suit and top hat holds his crotch after a baseball hit him with the word "ouch" scribbled across the top.
"He wasn't ready, and someone threw him the ball and hit him," Cohen said. "Then he was like 'ohhhh.'"
Cohen is 6 years old and with the help of his father, Aye Jay Morano, ("Gangsta Rap Coloring Book" and "Indie Rock Connect-the-dots" and member of rap crew Becky Sagers) has collaborated with more than 30 artists to put together "The Ninja's in the House." The art show opens Friday and runs through May 13 at the Crux Artist Collective in Chico, after which, it will travel to Minneapolis, Minn.
In another collaboration with Johnny Ryan, a cartoon-styled "hippie" wearing a Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt with a backdrop of random watercolor strokes proclaims, "I'm freakin' out, man!"
"He's like, going crazy," Cohen said.
His favorite piece is one done with Chris "Devi" Gliebe depicting a "robot that looks like a monkey" with a puff of smiling gas coming from his rear. Cohen asked "Devi" on his blog site, "What is that gas anyway? A fart?"
"Yeah," Gliebe said. "Robot farts are funny, especially ones that can smile."
Cohen came up with the title for his show on his own.
"Cohen likes hip-hop sayings, being raised around it, so he was going to call the show 'Ninja's in the House' or 'There's a Fire on the Roof,'" his father said. "I think he picked the ninja title so he could draw them for the poster."
According to Cohen, he began painting 25 days ago, but he really began his collaborative project about four years ago, his father said.
"There was not (a) real light-bulb-over-the head-moment, but I was going to the Alternative Press Expo to promote the coloring book, and I took a couple of Cohen's drawings along on a whim," Morano said. "On that trip I met Charles Burns and Doze Green - two of my heroes - to draw over his stuff, and it kind of snowballed from there."
Cohen painted on 8-1/2 inch by 11-inch white paper, then his father asked various artists to interpret the paintings and add to them as they saw fitting.
The project is ongoing with five different installments thus far. Samples can be viewed at Cohen's blog site www.fecalface.com.
If there's one thing Cohen could be doing right now it would be "painting, drawing and that's all," he said.
"It's fun, and I can paint whatever I want," Cohen said. "A person asked me, so I just listened and started to paint a lot. I like to paint, draw, go to places, play with Star Wars guys, play t-ball and go to kindergarten."
This is not Cohen's first brush with art fame. In late 2006, artist Travis Millard asked him to design the bottom of a skateboard deck. Foundation Skateboards asked Millard to curate a series of decks done by first time skateboard artists, Morano said.
"We were very excited," Morano said. "There was also a little revenge of sorts, in that I would never let Cohen play with the skateboard I had done. So the first thing he did when he got his in the mail was throw it on the ground and play with it."
The show will open Friday at 6 p.m. at the Crux Art Gallery. It will feature music by Boy Tiger, Nothing Left, Sleazy Earl Ray and Two Drink Minimum.
His father is optimistic about his son's art future even though he's only 6 years old.
"Other than doing an art show, there's really no plan. But a couple of publishers have expressed interest in making a book about the project," Morano said. "We'll see."
Maxwell Rowe can be reached at mrowe@theorion.com
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