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Ivy Haldeman "On Human Form"
Nanzuka Underground
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Ivy Haldeman
NANZUKA is pleased to present “On Human Form,” the first solo exhibition in Japan by artist Ivy Haldeman (b.1985, Aurora, Colorado). She currently lives and works in New York. This is the final exhibition to be held at NANZUKA UNDERGROUND in 2024.
Since graduating with a BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 2008, Haldeman has spent over a decade cultivating a practice that centers on the production of paintings and multimedia sculptures. She has exhibited widely both in the United States and internationally, holding solo exhibitions at Francois Ghebaly in Los Angeles (2024, 2020), Tara Downs in New York (2021, 2018), and Yuz Museum (2022) and Capsule Shanghai (2019) in China. She has also participated in group exhibitions at the Petzel Gallery and Hauser & Wirth in New York.
Familiar American consumerist objects such as bananas, hot dogs, suits, and high heels appear repeatedly in Haldeman’s work in anthropomorphic form. Haldeman selects these objects based on two sociological and psychological concerns: global consumerism centered in the United States, and the self-image of contemporary people. Her works are depicted in a graphic style characterized by delicate lines, and while the overall tone is bright and simple, the translucent colors reminiscent of watercolors or ink, paired with her brushwork, serve to create a somewhat surreal atmosphere.
This exhibition introduces a selection of 15 new works by Haldeman which will be presented for the first time. The subject of food and ready-to-wear clothing has historically been featured in American Pop Art, including the works of artists such as Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. Haldeman, however, does not portray these subjects as deliberate plagiarisms of images from popular culture, but instead depicts them in an extremely pure and uncontrived manner, distancing them from the commotion of contemporary urban life. At the same time, a certain “softness” is emphasized in her motifs. For example, objects that are often employed as sexual metaphors such as bananas and hot dogs, appear to be made of fluffy, cushion-like materials and bear graceful curves that evoke the female figure, subverting prescribed gender associations. These objects, which convey a sense of carnality, while sensual in nature, are devoid of the ostentation of 1960s Pop Art.
Haldeman’s artistic career coincides precisely with the era of mass portraiture and selfie images that first arose in the mid-2000s, and her works also respond to these contemporary circumstances. Instagram, which launched in 2010 and still continues to thrive as a major social networking service, is one inevitable point of reference. And today, with the proliferation of online meeting tools such as Zoom in the wake of Covid-19, we now see ourselves on camera more than ever before. Our opportunities for online exposure are increasing, rapidly changing our interactions with others as well as our self-image. Haldeman’s hot dogs express confusion at the discrepancy between the multiple self-images of “who we think we are,” “who we want others to think we are,” and “who others think we are.” Their listless, nonchalant appearance seems to offer an ironic representation of the contemporary individual.
The objects in Haldeman’s work also function as devices to deconstruct selected subject matter in classical still life painting and portraits from a feminist perspective. For example, fruits, especially grapes and peaches, have conventionally been depicted as symbols of “wealth” and “dignity” in still lives, yet as the term “still life” implies, these objects do not evoke their own emotions or their relationship to human beings and their movements, including domestic labor which has primarily been undertaken by women.
Bananas on the other hand, which Haldeman also depicts, are a relatively inexpensive and vulnerable fruit that has come to be distributed in the United States as a result of global capitalism. Their handling as well as the act of peeling them to eat harbor deep connections to the human hand. By reducing the size of her works, Haldeman strategically emphasizes the contrast between her paintings and traditional still lifes.
As for recent movements in contemporary art, it is still fresh in our memories how the New York-based activist group Guerilla Girls referenced Ingres’ Grand Odalisque to mention the fact that most of the representations of nudes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York are of women, and while they have a strong presence as objects in the museum, the presence of women as subjects, i.e. as artists, is almost nonexistent. Haldeman also recalls seeing nude female models lying down on chaise lounges in Western paintings and the models of Bijin-ga (lit. “pictures of beautiful women”) in Japanese Ukiyo-e and coming to the realization that such figures were not casually resting but were in truth laboring for the artist. This awareness inspired Haldeman to develop her paintings of women’s power suits jostling each other in what could be described as an almost humorous manner yet projecting an air of confidence and command.
From this multifaceted perspective, Haldeman explores the inner world of people living today, casting a refreshingly new outlook that extends beyond the conventional framework of art.
Since graduating with a BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 2008, Haldeman has spent over a decade cultivating a practice that centers on the production of paintings and multimedia sculptures. She has exhibited widely both in the United States and internationally, holding solo exhibitions at Francois Ghebaly in Los Angeles (2024, 2020), Tara Downs in New York (2021, 2018), and Yuz Museum (2022) and Capsule Shanghai (2019) in China. She has also participated in group exhibitions at the Petzel Gallery and Hauser & Wirth in New York.
Familiar American consumerist objects such as bananas, hot dogs, suits, and high heels appear repeatedly in Haldeman’s work in anthropomorphic form. Haldeman selects these objects based on two sociological and psychological concerns: global consumerism centered in the United States, and the self-image of contemporary people. Her works are depicted in a graphic style characterized by delicate lines, and while the overall tone is bright and simple, the translucent colors reminiscent of watercolors or ink, paired with her brushwork, serve to create a somewhat surreal atmosphere.
This exhibition introduces a selection of 15 new works by Haldeman which will be presented for the first time. The subject of food and ready-to-wear clothing has historically been featured in American Pop Art, including the works of artists such as Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. Haldeman, however, does not portray these subjects as deliberate plagiarisms of images from popular culture, but instead depicts them in an extremely pure and uncontrived manner, distancing them from the commotion of contemporary urban life. At the same time, a certain “softness” is emphasized in her motifs. For example, objects that are often employed as sexual metaphors such as bananas and hot dogs, appear to be made of fluffy, cushion-like materials and bear graceful curves that evoke the female figure, subverting prescribed gender associations. These objects, which convey a sense of carnality, while sensual in nature, are devoid of the ostentation of 1960s Pop Art.
Haldeman’s artistic career coincides precisely with the era of mass portraiture and selfie images that first arose in the mid-2000s, and her works also respond to these contemporary circumstances. Instagram, which launched in 2010 and still continues to thrive as a major social networking service, is one inevitable point of reference. And today, with the proliferation of online meeting tools such as Zoom in the wake of Covid-19, we now see ourselves on camera more than ever before. Our opportunities for online exposure are increasing, rapidly changing our interactions with others as well as our self-image. Haldeman’s hot dogs express confusion at the discrepancy between the multiple self-images of “who we think we are,” “who we want others to think we are,” and “who others think we are.” Their listless, nonchalant appearance seems to offer an ironic representation of the contemporary individual.
The objects in Haldeman’s work also function as devices to deconstruct selected subject matter in classical still life painting and portraits from a feminist perspective. For example, fruits, especially grapes and peaches, have conventionally been depicted as symbols of “wealth” and “dignity” in still lives, yet as the term “still life” implies, these objects do not evoke their own emotions or their relationship to human beings and their movements, including domestic labor which has primarily been undertaken by women.
Bananas on the other hand, which Haldeman also depicts, are a relatively inexpensive and vulnerable fruit that has come to be distributed in the United States as a result of global capitalism. Their handling as well as the act of peeling them to eat harbor deep connections to the human hand. By reducing the size of her works, Haldeman strategically emphasizes the contrast between her paintings and traditional still lifes.
As for recent movements in contemporary art, it is still fresh in our memories how the New York-based activist group Guerilla Girls referenced Ingres’ Grand Odalisque to mention the fact that most of the representations of nudes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York are of women, and while they have a strong presence as objects in the museum, the presence of women as subjects, i.e. as artists, is almost nonexistent. Haldeman also recalls seeing nude female models lying down on chaise lounges in Western paintings and the models of Bijin-ga (lit. “pictures of beautiful women”) in Japanese Ukiyo-e and coming to the realization that such figures were not casually resting but were in truth laboring for the artist. This awareness inspired Haldeman to develop her paintings of women’s power suits jostling each other in what could be described as an almost humorous manner yet projecting an air of confidence and command.
From this multifaceted perspective, Haldeman explores the inner world of people living today, casting a refreshingly new outlook that extends beyond the conventional framework of art.
Schedule | Dec 3 (Tue) 2024-Jan 11 (Sat) 2025 Opening Hours Information
Opening Reception Nov 27 (Wed) 2024 18:00 - 20:00 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | https://nanzuka.com/en/exhibitions/ivy-haldeman-on-human-form/press-release | ||||
| Venue | Nanzuka Underground http://www.nug.jp | ||||
| Location | 3-30-10 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001 | ||||
| Access | 8 minute walk from exit 5 at Meiji-jingumae Station on the Chiyoda and Fukutoshin lines, 10 minute walk from the Takeshita exit of Harajuku Station on the JR Yamanote line. | ||||
| Phone | 03-5422-3877 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it        |
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