Having Gone I Will Return
An exhibition of works by Petah Coyne, on view at Galerie Lelong in New York, from September 13th – October 27th, 2018
Omg, this exhibition was like witnessing a beautiful, haunted, daydream. Her use of rich velvets and tulle sweep the viewer into a melancholy fantastic world, not too different from ones constructed by Tim Burton or Mark Ryden.
While at first glance this exhibition may seem to be all about beauty and grace..but it was actually inspired by a book called ‘The Doctor’s Wife,’ by Sawako Ariyoshi.
The book describes a competitive relationship between a doctor’s wife and mother, which left Coyne contemplating the relationship between women and how our competition with one another is to only the advantage of the men involved.
“This is such a great time for women, but if we don’t evolve we’re just going to keep going around and around. I want to see my generation help the next generation.” - Petah Coyne
Petah has her own experience with this as stated in The New York Times
“A firsthand witness to how tensions can fracture a group of women, Ms. Coyne has spent five years photographing the early members of the Guerrilla Girls, the secret society of female artists that has been calling out art world sexism since 1985” - The New York Times
“It was such an interesting group of women and we wanted to make sure that everyone got credit for their work through the ages after they pass on,” - Petah Coyne (about the Guerrilla Girls)
Notable Press
The Brooklyn Rail interview gives really great insight about Petah’s history, everywhere she lived (she’s part of a military family), and how she got her start in art.
Petah has artworks in the collections of the following museums (but not limited to)
The Met, New York
the Whitney Museum of American Art
the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn
the High Museum of Art, Atlanta
She is represented by Galerie Lelong in New York since around 1998, and Jack Shainman previous to that. Check out her website here.
