Hannah Barrett, Parlor Games, 2021 Acrylic, Watercolor on Paper 30 x 22 in
HANNAH BARRETT’s drawn and painted subjects: part fantastical monster, part modern-day Dandy, reconsider the figure through a theatrical lens, creating a mise-en-scene exploring the ideas and ideals of otherness with a sense of humor, style, and whimsy.
In these works on paper the subjects appear against backgrounds ranging from the simple to the ornate, from patterns of ivy to landscapes with ramparts. Hirsute and well tailored, Barrett’s creatures gesture with curled talens holding flowers, letters or drinks. Each figure or group is surrounded by an atmosphere created by its color palette, The Great Scholar in thoughtful blues and greens, or Parlour Games in tipsy mauve. Like Barrett’s oils, these painted drawings are highly detailed and eccentric but with the luminosity of water based and drawing media on heavy paper.
Hannah Barrett is a Brooklyn and Hudson Valley based artist. The portrayal of gender ambiguity has driven their painting for over a decade, which has led to the current exploration of dandy monsters. Recent exhibitions include a 2020 retrospective at Childs Gallery, Boston, a two-person invitational in 2019 at La MaMa Galleria, and a solo at Yours Mine and Ours Gallery in 2018. Selected group shows include Spring Break 2020, Platform Project Space, Dumbo NY, Kate Werble and Calicoon galleries in NYC and Mother Gallery, Beacon NY, and September Gallery in Hudson NY. Museum Shows include the Decordova Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and National Museum of Women in the Arts. Her work has been written about in Art Forum, Time Out New York, and Modern Painters. Barrett is on the curatorial staff of Soloway Gallery in Williamsburg. Barrett is also the illustrator of a vegan and lesbian themed childrens’ book “Nuts in Nutland”. Barrett is Executive Director of the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College.