Orly Cogan "Bric- a - brac"

Orly Cogan is an Israeli-born, New York-based multidisciplinary artist working primarily in fiber, embroidery, and mixed media. Educated at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City and the Maryland Institute College of Art, Cogan has been exhibiting throughout the United States and Europe for over two decades and is recognized as a leading voice in the contemporary fiber arts movement with a strong emphasis on feminist discourse.
Through intricately stitched tableaux created on vintage and printed fabrics, Cogan constructs surreal, mythological narratives that explore gender, power, intimacy, and the politics of identity. Reclaiming domestic craft traditions as sites of agency, her work merges historical feminine labor with contemporary feminist perspectives. Her compositions are populated by goddess-like female protagonists who inhabit dreamlike domestic worlds, navigating emotional terrain that includes desire, rejection, social hierarchies, vulnerability, and strength.
Cogan has been included in notable national and international museum, biennial, and university exhibitions, including the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art; the Museum of Arts and Design, which holds her work in its permanent collection; the MIT collection; the Riverside Art Museum; the Hudson River Museum; the Textile Museum of Toronto (with Judy Chicago); the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center; the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles; the Woodson Art Museum; the Fresno Metropolitan Museum; the Musée International des Arts Modestes; the Museum Rijswijk as part of the Rijswijk Textile Biennial; and the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, among others.
Her work is included in numerous public and private collections and has been widely published and reviewed. Features and reviews include The New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Los Angeles Times, The Reader, NY Press, Art Press Magazine, W Magazine, Elle, Fiber Arts, Textile Plus, Surface Design, Art in America, Tema Celeste, Interior Design, Art News, Time Out Chicago, Time Out New York, The American Art Collector, The Chronogram, Upstate House, Artforum, and The New American Paintings, among others.
Cogan has also exhibited with The Untitled Space including the gallery’s landmark 10th Anniversary exhibition “UPRISE 2025: The Art of Resistance” and the group exhibition “UNRAVELED: Confronting The Fabric of Fiber Art” (2021).
Artist Statement
“The tableaux I create are inspired by relationships. Searching for that odd thing, the Feminist Beauty Queen, I mix subversion with flirtation, humor with power, and intimacy with frivolity. I start with vintage and printed fabrics, updating the original purpose while honoring the labors of the past. The fabric becomes the foundation for a surreal, fantastical exploration. By hand, with a mostly dotted line, I stitch figures into dream-like mythological narratives.
The juxtaposition of vintage feminine and contemporary feminism is a rich contrast that gives the work much of its unique strength, complexity, and frank vulnerability… Each stitch points to the next in a slow lingering line that asks the viewer to take their time looking.
Changes in the tenor of cultural expression between then and now, and in conflating today’s brand of cultural confessionalism with yesteryear’s saccharin conservatism, the work encapsulates a sweeping arc of feminist storytelling.”
— Orly Cogan