Orly Cogan

Early life and education

Orly Cogan was born in Jaffa, Israel in 1971. She lives and works in New York City. She was educated at The Cooper Union for Advancement of Science & Art and The Maryland Institute College of Art.

Style

Cogan begins with dainty vintage fabrics, these found linens, which at one time in a more modest age served as table runners, bureau scarves and tablecloths, had already been embroidered by an earlier and more circumscribed generation of women. Cogan then transforms the "women's work" pieces with modern images, statements about gender identity, and role models for today's woman.

Themes

Cogan typically mixes themes of old and new becoming a conduit for finding modern feminist inspiration though "old fashioned" pieces of women's handiwork. Her work is "drawn to dichotomies, such as soft and tough, dirty and clean, fantasy and reality, especially as they relate to gender. [My work] explores common feminine archetypes and stereotypes such as Madonna/Whore, Pin-Up Girl, Lolita, and the Femme Fatale. Searching for that odd thing, the Feminist Beauty Queen, I mix subversion with flirtation, humor with power, and intimacy with frivolity, and in doing so I often straddle an ironic edge."

Reception

Orly Cogan's work has been called post-modern feminist, sensual, wholesome, and erotically charged.

Major exhibitions

Solo

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