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Zoe Cohen Art Exibition 2008 |
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Philadelphia
Cathedral Artist-in-Residence Zoë Cohen presents a series of sixteen new works
on paper in a solo exhibition:
What Was Our
Vision: Sixteen Scenes from Wandering in the Desert
September 1 – 29, 2008
Opening Reception,
Thursday September 4th 2008, 6-8 pm
Philadelphia Cathedral
Visual
Artist Zoë Cohen will present a series of new works on paper in September, in
her first exhibition as the Philadelphia Cathedral Artist-in-Residence for
2008-09. The sixteen small works on paper will be exhibited in the main chapel
of the Philadelphia Cathedral, interspersed with the historical and
contemporary stained glass windows of the Cathedral. The Philadelphia
Cathedral's Artist-in-Residence Program invites one artist each year to create
a body of work in its large studio in the Cathedral House, and to to contribute
a permanently installed piece of art to the Cathedral itself.
Cohen is the
Cathedral's first Jewish Artist in Residence, and What Was Our Vision is a series of mixed-media works on paper that
she has developed based on visual research into the belief systems of the
Ancient Near East. Zoë Cohen's work is motivated by her interest in origin,
identity, and place. Her search for meaningful connections to the history of
Judaism led her to explore the iconography and earth-based belief systems of
the Ancient Near Eastern cultures that Judaism developed from. In What Was Our Vision, Zoë synthesizes invented
imagery along with found iconography relating to earth, trees, water, sky,
gods, and goddesses. With these images, she imagines what visions her ancestors
may have had as they traveled desert landscapes as nomads and cultural
go-betweens.
The setting for this
exhibition is an important component to the meaning of the work. By exhibiting
this series of images in the Cathedral space, Zoë hopes to draw attention to
the historical and spiritual connection of all faith practices, as well as to offer
a vision for religious imagery that speaks to a spiritual connection between
earth and body.
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