Oreen Cohen

About

Texture, movement, material and process are key elements of my artwork. I attempt to bring viewers closer to the visceral or essential qualities of material and sites. I labor using my body and its presence as a tool to unlock the potential of material and self. I extend myself in the mediums of large-scale sculpture, painting, drawing, site specific installation, public art, intervention, video and performance. Often the public is invited to join in the process magnify the theatres of action, engrossing participants in a spectacle of a mythic, often post-industrial narratives.

Examples of projects include: baking 5,000 bread bricks to reconstructing buildings on the to be demolished list, directing parades with golden caskets filled with 200 lbs. of sunflower seeds in the middle of winter, and creating a quilt of aluminum rubbings taken from 400 buildings around Pittsburgh only to be destroyed in a one night dance performance.  For me, the process of making is more important than final object. My approach thrives on resourcefulness and the discovery of intention while building that initiates the creative exchange between myself and the context. In the studio, classroom or with communities I advocate there are no mistakes in art, only opportunity in the moment.

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