ARTISTS
Hannah Whitaker: Stranger
Marinaro is pleased to present Stranger, Hannah Whitaker's third solo exhibition with the gallery.
In Stranger, Whitaker continues her exploration of a technologically-mediated life through the fictional character she calls Ursula. Drawing from the archetype of the synthetic woman, found in books, films, and in contemporary tech, Ursula inhabits a heavily styled techno-futuristic world. She is silhouetted, leaving her contours visible, but not her individual features. The result is a playful critique of a visual culture that often fails to depict women and femmes with their full dimensionality.
The show features six photographs, all UV-printed directly onto hand-painted panels. While they may appear to be heavily digitally manipulated, all of Whitaker's images are achieved in-camera through the use of mirrored props, reflective fabrics, consumer-grade selfie lights, custom-made sets, printed backdrops, a two-way mirror, and rear projection. With these images, Whitaker introduces mirrors that were laser-cut into Ursula's own likeness, implying her replicability, like our own digital personas, avatars, and zoom replicants do.
The show also debuts two collages made of acrylic paint and cut photographic prints, and depicting an internal logic defined by intersecting stripes. Mimicking Whitaker's earlier multi- exposure camera works, the hand of the artist is now pushed to the forefront. Lastly, the show includes a 22-minute narrative film. The film follows a clich茅d Hollywood story arc, culminating in character growth, a violent climax, and ultimately, resolution.
As a whole, the show oscillates between perfection and flaw. The collages explore Whitaker's impulse to make something by hand with machine precision, which inevitably fails. Whitaker's allegiance to in-camera effects, as opposed to digital composite, results in the contrasting presence of flyaway hairs, dust, and scratches amid the hard-edged clarity of her visual forms. In spite of the show's hyper-synthetic sensibility, human life asserts its presence.
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Marinaro is pleased to present Stranger, Hannah Whitaker's third solo exhibition with the gallery.
In Stranger, Whitaker continues her exploration of a technologically-mediated life through the fictional character she calls Ursula. Drawing from the archetype of the synthetic woman, found in books, films, and in contemporary tech, Ursula inhabits a heavily styled techno-futuristic world. She is silhouetted, leaving her contours visible, but not her individual features. The result is a playful critique of a visual culture that often fails to depict women and femmes with their full dimensionality.
The show features six photographs, all UV-printed directly onto hand-painted panels. While they may appear to be heavily digitally manipulated, all of Whitaker's images are achieved in-camera through the use of mirrored props, reflective fabrics, consumer-grade selfie lights, custom-made sets, printed backdrops, a two-way mirror, and rear projection. With these images, Whitaker introduces mirrors that were laser-cut into Ursula's own likeness, implying her replicability, like our own digital personas, avatars, and zoom replicants do.
The show also debuts two collages made of acrylic paint and cut photographic prints, and depicting an internal logic defined by intersecting stripes. Mimicking Whitaker's earlier multi- exposure camera works, the hand of the artist is now pushed to the forefront. Lastly, the show includes a 22-minute narrative film. The film follows a clich茅d Hollywood story arc, culminating in character growth, a violent climax, and ultimately, resolution.
As a whole, the show oscillates between perfection and flaw. The collages explore Whitaker's impulse to make something by hand with machine precision, which inevitably fails. Whitaker's allegiance to in-camera effects, as opposed to digital composite, results in the contrasting presence of flyaway hairs, dust, and scratches amid the hard-edged clarity of her visual forms. In spite of the show's hyper-synthetic sensibility, human life asserts its presence.
Artists on show
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A silhouetted figure named Ursula was the central protagonist of Hannah Whitaker鈥檚 鈥淪tranger,鈥� the artist鈥檚 third solo exhibition at Marinaro.
