Fantasies of Triumph Opening Reception
January 10, 2020 @ 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
We’re kicking off the new year in the HP Gallery with a brand new exhibition, Fantasies of Triumph, featuring the work of Las Vegas based artist, Kristin Hough!
Kristin Hough uses the expanded field of painting to explore how capital exploits consumers’ search for meaning and purpose, with a focus on reality TV. She replicates moments from promotional videos for survival-based reality shows, revealing digital media’s commodification of nature and spirituality in an effort to emotionally manipulate the viewer. The text pulled from television is echoed in words transcribed from self-help catalogs and religious advertisements, which are hung from ceilings and walls like political banners. Together, the work surrounds the viewer, reflecting its ubiquitous and seductive subject matter. Offsetting that work are visions of the sublime, symbols of nature that are often collected and photographed in a gendered and precious way (fish and butterflies, waterfalls, rainbows). This visual amalgam is rendered in paint and then replicated again into souvenir objects – trophies, trinkets, guides to paradise and beyond.
Kristin Hough is an artist, educator and curator, recently based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. She received her BA from Wesleyan University in English and Studio Art and her MFA from UC Davis, where she was awarded the Provost and Margrit Mondavi Fellowships. Her work has been exhibited nationally and has been featured in New American Paintings, Friend of the Artist and Hyperallergic. In addition, she’s been an artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center and the ECF Downtown Art Center in Los Angeles, and recently released a book with National Monument Press. She co-founded an artist-run project space, Outback Arthouse, and has co-curated exhibitions throughout Los Angeles, as well as at Carnation Contemporary in Portland, Oregon. More of her work can be seen at www.kristinhough.com.
Join us for an opening reception with the artist on Friday, Jan. 10th from 5-7pm! Fantasies of Triumph is on view in the Main Gallery at the Holland Project Jan. 9th – Feb. 14th, 2020. Gallery hours are 12-6pm Wed. – Fri. or by appointment by emailing alisha@hollandreno.org or calling 774-448-6500.
