Breathless (Colossus)

Ivy Haldeman

June 17 – July 30, 2017

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 17, 7 – 10pm
Plant Doctor with Camilla Hammer: Saturday July 1, 1-4pm
Painting Salon with Ivy Haldeman and Woody Othello: Tuesday July 25, 7 – 10pm

 
Breathless (Colossus) is a solo exhibition by Ivy Haldeman that explores gender and corporeality through a single repeating figure in repose––a lady who also happens to be a hotdog. Captured in hushed, elegant moments that evoke the mood of classical odalisques or the Japanese woodblock prints of Kitagawa Utamaro, the figure is executed in gentle pastel tones of acrylic and framed with thin, fluid lines. Unabashedly phallic yet feminine in nature, these candid, often amorous, portraits juxtapose gender binaries and their accompanying associations. The paintings, which borrow from movie snack marketing, appeal to several carnal senses at once (the shapely body and the hotdog both possessing a certain sensuality) and investigate the relationship between icons, desire, and consumption. Haldeman couples two languages of longing (advertising and fine art) and confounds the gaze with her subject. Her leisurely figure––a mash up of societal ideals of femininity and processed meat––wraps itself in a bun and quietly settles into a good book.
 
Artist Biography:
Ivy Haldeman (b. 1985 Aurora, Co) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.  Recent solo exhibitions include Ivy Haldeman, Mayor Projects, Aarhus, Denmark (2017); Pulp, Simuvac Project, Brooklyn NY (2016); and Rhymes with Nude, The Wurks, Providence, RI (2016). She received her BFA from the Cooper Union.

Installation Photos by Ben Hoffman