About the exhibition:

MOO-D: A Rural Urban Adventure is a project that analyzes my relationship to the rural and the urban, with a focus on queering the perceived binaries between them and aims to recognize the rural as a place of contemporary art and culture. Using videos, photographs, and memorabilia - this installation showcases a herd of life-sized Pennsylvania-shaped Holstein Cow soft-sculptures existing in the urban landscape, creating a dialogue around perceived binaries of what does or does not “belong.” 

My childhood house has a view of a cow milking farm where cows are kept inside and is also near farms where cows are allowed to graze. Although both groups of cows have the physical and biological ability to be milked or to graze, their location and circumstance only allow them one perspective. Growing up in Central PA, I observed and absorbed stigmas surrounding the idea of the city. I’m now living in Philadelphia, PA where there is generalization and cultural assumptions when considering the rural. Using the dairy cow as a symbol of hidden violence and text as a comical, yet relevant, entry point for dialogue, the work in this installation captures myself leading life-sized Pennsylvania-shaped Holstein cow soft sculptures though the city of Philadelphia; a metaphor for my continued journey in deconstructing the rural/urban binary. This exhibition encourages personal reflection, and supports conversations dedicated to recognizing and deconstructing frameworks of polarization and constructed rural/urban binaries to envision and build a more inclusive future.

This project has been generously funded by The Puffin Foundation.

THE ARTIST:

Ash Garner – THECOLORG (b. 1991, Central PA) is a millennial feminine queer interdisciplinary artist and professional arts administrator based in Philadelphia, PA. She holds an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and a BFA from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She has attended artist residencies at the Studios at MASS MoCA, Chautauqua Visual Arts, and the Walkaway House in North Adams, MA. Her work has been exhibited at many museums, galleries, and institutions across the country, including Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center (Smithsonian Institution), Vox Populi, The Clay Studio, Moravian University, Lycoming College Gallery, Atelier FAS Gallery, PAFA, Cherry Street Pier, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, the Erie Art Museum, and many more. Her current project "MOO-D" has been generously funded by The Puffin Foundation through their 2022 artist grant cycle. Ash serves as the Program Coordinator of Continuing Education at Moore College of Art & Design where she supports arts programming for youth and adults – centering inclusivity and accessibility in her approach to all parts of the role.