Loie Hollowell

Feuer/Mesler

October 27—December 8, 2016

Loie Hollowell is a Queens-based artist, whose oil paintings of symmetrical and anatomical forms pose between slight figuration and geometric precision, doubtlessly recalling Georgia O’Keefe’s floral depictions. O’Keefe famously denied equivocal quality of her paintings; however, many considered them to represent female genitalia. Hollowell’s hypnotic paintings, such as Thigh Gap or Portrait of Woman with Green Hair, are far less hesitant to stand against such sexual innuendo. They are playful, precise, and daring in their subject matter. 

“The fact that I have a vagina allows me to paint it however I want, because it’s mine. I’m highlighting it through abstraction,” said Hollowed in an interview with Hyperallergic in December 2015. Lunar in their voluptuous silhouettes, these oil on linen paintings stem from her exquisite orchestration of color and form, absorbing the viewers into dream-like realms. The artist’s first exhibition with Feuer/Mesler on the other hand celebrates her uncompromisingly humorous, sex-positive approach to painting, from titles such as Lick Lick in Brown and Green and Pink Tongues to hinted depictions of various sexual acts.