Semash
2019
Oreen Cohen
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.
About Oreen Cohen
Oreen Cohen is a first-generation American Israeli with North African Jewish heritage. She is a sculptor, painter, mother, and cultural programmer living in Pittsburgh, PA. She received her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University (2014) and BFA from the University at Buffalo (2008). Working in the mediums of sculptural metalwork, drawing, and installation, Oreen has developed large scale public and private commissions in curious locations. Curatorial projects include When Artists Enter the Factory at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, FIGMENT Sculpture Project (Governors Island, NYC), Flint Public Art Project (Flint, MI), and CerCCa Casamarles in Catalonia, Spain. She has been the recipient of an Investing in Professional Artists grant from The Pittsburgh Foundation and the Heinz Endowments and a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant. Cohen has had solo exhibitions at 707 Gallery (Pittsburgh), Bunker Projects (Pittsburgh), and Transformer Gallery (Washington, DC).
Program Participation
Joan Mitchell Center Residency, 2023
Website / Social Links
Voraciously drawn or forcefully bent, my approach to sculpture, installation, and drawing is a gestural and automatic response to internal and external environments. Line is a constant in my work, as textural mark-making from performative movement or layered objects that connect symbolic narratives. My body is a tool for making, and the visible, labored aesthetic in steel, glass, charcoal, and mixed media is an attempt to reiterate the transformational potential of material to reflect the essence of self in place.”
