Coe is a graphic artist and visual essayist. Though she primarily works in printmaking and illustration, she also practices in other visual media, including painting. Coe's paintings and prints are auctioned as fundraisers for a variety of progressive causes. Since 1998, she has sold prints to benefit animal rights organizations. Her influences include the works of
Chaïm Soutine and
José Guadalupe Posada,
Käthe Kollwitz, Francisco
Goya, and
Rembrandt. As an illustrator, she is a frequent contributor to
World War 3 Illustrated, and has seen her work published in
The Progressive, Mother Jones, Blab, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time Magazine,
Newsweek The Nation and other periodicals. One of her illustrations was used on the cover of the book,
Animals, Property, and the Law (1995) by
Gary Francione, and her artwork is also featured in the
animal rights movie,
Earthlings. Coe's work is coupled to her activism, though the artist recoils from the "political artist" label. Nevertheless, Coe's works have notable political messages. "Police State," an exhibition organized by the
Anderson Gallery at
Virginia Commonwealth University, showcased works illustrating Coe's anti-war sentiments and critiques of international governments. Among the works included were "Your Class Enemy (The Great Miners Strike)," "England is a Bitch," and a number of Coe's
New York Times illustrations. The artist's subjects are the victimized. She often depicts harsh realities, and her subjects are largely animals and humans oppressed by social and political forces beyond their control.
Sheep of Fools (2005), a horrific look at the conditions of sheep trade, and
Dead Meat (1996), a journalistic piece illustrating the brutality of slaughterhouses throughout North America, are both longer narrative investigations into animal cruelty.
Awards Coe was elected into the
National Academy of Design, as an Associate Academician in 1993, and became a full Academician by 1994. PETA progress awards named
Sheep of Fools, Coe's collaboration with Judy Brody, Nonfiction Book of the Year in 2005. She was awarded the 2015
Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts award from
Women's Caucus for Art, for her dedication to art and activism. In 2017, Coe was awarded the SGCI Lifetime Achievement award in Printmaking from Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI).
Museum collections Coe's work is in the collections of various international museums including: The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),
Whitney Museum of American Art,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Smithsonian American Art Museum,
Birmingham Museum of Art,
Art Institute of Chicago,
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,
Cooper-Hewitt Museum,
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam,
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,
Harvard Art Museums,
Brooklyn Museum,
Walker Art Center, and others.
Criticism Coe has been criticized by writers
Cary Wolfe and Steven Baker for "audience positioning" and using "stylistic sentimentality" to incite outrage and illicit specific responses from viewers. She has also been criticized for using stereotypes, thereby creating dimensional representations of depicted victims. Coe is also a harsh critic of herself, retroactively condemning
X, her graphic companion to Malcolm X's autobiography for the way it iconized him. ==See also==