Hilary Harkness: Everything For You is the first comprehensive monograph on the artist’s work.
Known for her irreverent, provocative and meticulously crafted paintings, Harkness employs historic world events and art history as jumping off points from which to explore power dynamics and struggles through an intersectional lens.
A queer Midwesterner from a family with working class origins, Harkness has lived in coastal cities (San Francisco, New York) for the majority of her life. She is married to an African American woman who shares her interest in art and literature. These life experiences are infused throughout her works, even as they defy pure autobiographical interpretation. The worlds that unfold on Harkness’s canvases teem with the inescapable human foibles that plague each of us, making it relatable and resonant with viewers across a broad and global spectrum.
This heavily illustrated publication provides an opportunity for further exploration of Harkness’s practice alongside essays by Lynne Tillman and Dr Ashley Jackson, as well as insights from the artist herself.
Author Biography:
Hilary Harkness (b. 1971) earned her BA from UC Berkeley and her MFA from Yale University. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at the FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY; Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain; American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY; Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, OR; and the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; among others.
Her work is in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Yuz Museum Shanghai; Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA; and the Seavest Collection, New York, NY; among others.
In 2017, she received the Henry Clews Award and participated in the inaugural Master Residency Program at the Château de La Napoule in France. She has lectured widely at leading academic and cultural institutions. In 2014, she co-curated Roy Lichtenstein: Nudes and Interiors at The FLAG Art Foundation. Harkness was represented by Mary Boone Gallery from 2003–19 and is currently represented by P·P·O·W, New York.
Lynne Tillman is a novelist, short story writer and cultural critic. Her books include No Lease on Life, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction; Apparitions, nominated for a Republic of Consciousness Prize; and What Would Lynne Tillman Do?, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism. Her writing is published in a host of cultural journals, monographs on Dana Schutz, Steve Locke, Stanley Whitney, Amy Sillman and Raymond Pettibon, and in catalogues for the likes of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; and the International Center of Photography, New York, NY.
