Engender
November 11, 2017 – January 13, 2018
Kohn Gallery
1227 N Highland Ave, Los Angeles
Brooklyn-based artist Heidi Hahn paints women but eschews explicit or erotic representation of her female subjects in favor of a nuanced perspective that allows viewers to understand what it means to be a woman in 2017. The New York Times has compared Hahn’s work to artists ranging from old masters like Edvard Munch to modern masters like Lisa Yuskavage, indicating that Hahn’s primary subject matter is the representation of women across painting history, period. Unlike most representations of women in painting, which sees them subdued and passive, Hahn portrays women across the spectrum of emotional states. In addition to her work being included in “Engender,” Hahn is represented by Jack Hanley Gallery, where she had a solo exhibition in 2016.
“I have been representing the female body for a long time in my work. Using the idea of femininity in a way that’s not totally represented in the erotic or art historical terms was reconstructing what it meant to be a woman. I’m using the mundane of every day actions, showing them and expressing them, I’m showing the personality of subjects more than I’m just depicting a body. When Josh told me he was doing an exhibition about different modes of human bodily representation and different representations of the human form, being a very traditional painter there’s nothing bionic or so far out there about using the body in that way. I was interested in playing with subtle gestures that denote empowerment and feminist political ideals. I realized I could dictate how women are seen.”
Read the full article here.