Orly Cogan ~ . . . and don't forget to rescue the princess! Second Thursday Artist Reception

Projects Gallery proudly presents “. . . and don’t forget to rescue the princess!” a solo exhibition of work by artist Orly Cogan. Cogan uses found vintage linens that once served as table runners or bureau scarves in a more modest age. To these quaint decorative items the artist adds a layer of contemporary attitude that updates a traditionally feminine craft with what critic Margaret Hawkins describes as a kind of “happy-go-lucky post modern perversity.” Cogan's work addresses issues of identity, transformation, physiology, fantasy, humor, irony and the boundaries between the fictional fairytale and the mundane, as well as provocative power issues between the sexes. Although fabricated with thread, the work visually translates as line drawings, where layers of female tropes grace the surfaces. Mythological princesses with their hopeful prince charming dance across stitched nude men. Playful curvaceous women willfully stuff their faces with cupcakes and pose in tongue-in-cheek cheesecake postures, dressed in knee socks and Mary-Janes. The result is a portrait of girlhood womanly ambitions as well as women’s girlish ambivalence, creating an image of public intimacy.

Margaret Hawkins succinctly praises the material and process elements of the artist’s technique: "Cogan's work is engaging as it mixes things up, collapsing time and history as she appropriates the past for the present. By co-opting the labors of some earnest home maker, she honors the hand work while incorporating it into her imaginative blithe frolics of the 21st century."

Orly Cogan was born in Israel and currently lives and works in New York. She studied in Florence, Italy, and at The Cooper Union Advancement of Science and Art, as well as The Maryland Institute College of Art. Cogan has been the center of much critical and curatorial attention. She has exhibited prominently throughout the United States, including shows at the Jersey City Art Museum, The Riverside Art Museum in California, The Hudson River Museum in New York, The Institute of the Contemporary Arts (SICA) in Long Beach, New Jersey, and at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, where she is included in the digital Feminist Art Project. She has been reviewed in publications such as, ARTnews, Art in America, The New York Times, W Magazine, The Chicago Sun Times, Fiber Arts Magazine and The New York Sun, among others.

As Cogan explores this inter-generational connection, she also examines archetypes of femininity, mythology, and the nature of intimacy, at the heart questing for understanding of identity. “. . . and don’t forget to rescue the princess!” celebrates Thursday, May 10th with an artist’s reception from 5-9 p.m. The exhibition continues through May 27th.

Projects Gallery is located at 629 N. 2nd Street in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia. Gallery hours are Wednesday and Thursday noon to 5 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 7 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. A preview of this artist’s works may be viewed on the gallery’s website at www.projectsgallery.com. For more information on the artist, please contact Projects Gallery at info@projectsgallery.com or 267-303-9652.