There’s glitter in my soup: 'put your heart under your feet... and walk!', Centre Pompidou, Paris, 20/9/2019
The story behind There's Glitter In My Soup begins over a decade ago. Cohen explains:
"The birth of this idea to remove my makeup with adhesive tape came at an elegant museum supper one night 10 years ago, with an accusing glare followed by a rebuke from across the dinner table: ‘There’s glitter in my soup!’
I had just finished performing. I was embarrassed. In my bag, I had a roll of duct tape, and I used it there and then to remove the glittered makeup from my face. It was efficient. There is a real relief in peeling off the eyelashes – eyelashes are pointe shoes for the eyes. After that, the breakdown of the makeup using pressure-sensitive adhesive tape became part of my post-performance ritual."
Cohen thus imagines this new body of work as a palimpsest of sorts - a reconstruction of something that was once part of his skin. By literally ripping off his own cosmetic character, Cohen presents his audiences with an alternate version of himself. Looking out from beneath the mask, he reveals his most fragile state. With such a drastic breakaway from his usual outward attack on society, this may just be Cohen's most vulnerable body of work yet.
- There’s glitter in my soup: 'put your heart under your feet... and walk!', Centre Pompidou, Paris, 20/9/2019
- Cohen, Steven
- 2019
- Archival tape, make-up, glitter, synthetic eyelashes, bindi, feathers, moth wings
- 64 x 64 centimeters