2. BIOGRAPHY
• 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.
• Cogan has had solo exhibitions with galleries such
as Steven Wolf Fine Art in San Fransisco, Byron
Cohen Gallery in Kansas City and Carl Hammer
Gallery in Chicago.
3. “My work is an irreverent take on the conventions
of femininity: I stitch figures on 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.”
Her Style of Work
Her work reflects on history,
tradition, mythology, fairy
tales, nature, humor, irony
and intimacy. She uses
vintage fabrics and adds „a
layer of attitude‟ which
informs us what was once
thought of as old fashioned
womanly craft with a
postmodern twist.
4. FIGURES
Cogan has figures who inspire her, often female
heroines, where she would present their anxieties,
insecurities, vanities and desires through visual
narratives.
The narratives tend to show both a tactile and
symbolic presence that would transform “women‟s
work” into something unexpected.
Most of her figures are from people she knows, such
as her fiancé, parents and friends, who would then
mingle with storybook characters.
5. QUESTIONS
Cogan would ask herself questions such as:
What role do women want to play in society?
What kinds of relationships do we want to
share? Who are our roles models?
These questions relate to my own study of the
roles of women developing and how
celebrities are idolised as being the „perfect
woman‟.
Animal farm
This piece makes me
think of the stereotype of
women being in the
kitchen baking
6. Voicemail
Women‟s work
In „Women‟s Work‟, the woman is
vacuuming naked, suggesting what
is idolised of a woman in a
stereotypical way: liked for their body
and being a housewife.
Mistreated?
7. Delilah
This piece makes me think of how
women change their looks to be the
ideal woman, like the glamorous
celebrities.
