Bek Coogan

Bek Coogan (born 1972) is a New Zealand multidisciplinary artist and musician.

Background Coogan was born in 1972 in Palmerston North, New Zealand, and has lived in Wellington. She is currently based in Paekākāriki. Bek is related to Steve Coogan through their fathers, who are cousins.

Education Coogan completed a Master's degree in Fine Arts (First-Class Honours) at Massey University in 2004, and a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Teaching at Victoria University of Wellington in 2012. Luke Rowell of Disasteradio characterised her performances as "breaking down the hierarchy between performer and audience."

In 2013, she formed the group Fantasing with Sarah Jane Parton, Claire Harris, and Gemma Syme. Coogan described the group's emotional and artistic support of each other as central to their practice: "Sometimes that is kind of the art." She has also performed solo as Oona Verse and Sheville, and was a member of the band Full Fucking Moon. Member Andy Morley-Hall describes Coogan: "My mum calls Bek The Original Rebel. I reckon she's like a cosmic whirlwind of new and refreshing ideas. She doesn't see the world quite like the rest of us do. Though she thinks deeply about things she is the opposite of earnest."

Coogan performed the role of Janet in Frankensplurta, a musical prequel to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, in the March 2018 Dunedin Fringe Festival.

Art Coogan first exhibited her drawings in 2002, which began an ongoing practice based around a character called Sheville and referencing a mythic female utopia. Her influences range from the painter Colin McCahon to feminist, punk-inspired drawing and collage.

Coogan has also been the subject of paintings by Liz Maw.

Publications

Bryce Galloway, Caroline Campbell, Gavin Hipkins, David Hall, Bek Coogan, Adrian McNabb, Clem Devine, Jason Lingard, John Douglas (2002). Incredibly hot sex with hideous people #8 : Exquisite corpse II. Coogan, Bek (Summer 2006). "Sheville" Natural Selection 5 Full Fucking Moon (2009). Still Life With Black Light. Edition Künstlerhäuser Worpswede (12" EP) Coogan, Bek, & Tilly, Torben (Spring 2009). "On The Subject Of Fate & the Destiny of Objects", Travelogue: Tactical Objects 2. Coogan, Bek, & Up, Ari (2011). Typical girls: comedic feminist video from Wellington Coogan, Bek (2016). "Squinting Towards Sunlight". Three words an anthology of Aotearoa/NZ women's comics. Auckland, New Zealand. Beatnik Press, Coogan, Bek (2017). "Savage" Sonic Comic, Coogan, Bek (2017). "Rita Angus" Femisphere 1