Orly Cogan is an artist featured in “The Storied Stitch” a show of embroidered narratives at the Azarian McCullough Art Gallery, March 31 through April 19.

“The tableaux I create are inspired by relationships. They evolve from the personal mythologies of my memories.”

On a vintage tablecloth, a life is laid bare. Beginning with needlecraft of women of bygone eras, Orly Cogan sketches revealing contemporary scenes of women. She brings a quick and vibrant hand to a slow and meticulous craft.   The juxtaposition of old and new embroidery techniques allows us to intuitively feel the progression of time in the work. Layers of images lay atop simple designs of the vintage textile, showing the many sides and complications of relationships as they build from a simple beginning. Cogan’s willingness to expose her strengths and flaws, moments of ecstasy and those of mundanity, make her work both intimate and inclusive.

“I add my own confidently clean, embroidered drawings to the handiwork of stitching culturally associated with women practitioners and decorating the home. [The linen] becomes the vehicle for imagery that is run through by the erotic and the intimate. The figures are present in the way a child perceives the world, wholehearted, engaged, uninhibited, and reliant on the senses.”

Orly Cogan lives and works in New York City. She was educated at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and has a BFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her works has been exhibited internationally including exhibitions at the Carl Hammer Gallery, in Chicago, IL, the Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles, CA, and the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

For more information about the work of Orly Cogan, visit her website: orlycogan.com