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'I was super horny when I made my early work': Loie Hollowell’s abstract paintings of breasts and vaginas
Equally inspired by childbirth manuals, Georgia O’Keeffe and her own hormones, pregnancy and motherhood, Hollowell paints beautiful anatomical abstractions. She opens up about her cosmic birth and out-of-body experience
TL;DR
- Loie Hollowell's new painting series 'Overview Effect' is inspired by childbirth and the experience of seeing Earth from space.
- The series features large canvases with twin concave and convex sculpted circles, representing an out-of-body experience during her daughter's home birth.
- Hollowell's art explores themes of abortion, conception, pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding, influenced by her personal experiences and artists like Georgia O'Keeffe.
- She notes that as male collectors have become more comfortable with her work, she can speak more openly about the influences, including a past abortion.
- Hollowell discusses the tension between abstract art and its corporeal underpinnings, and how the art market can lead to pigeonholing.
- She reflects on the role of hormones and life stages, like perimenopause and menopause, in shaping her artistic practice.
- Hollowell feels more in control and optimistic about her art evolving, similar to how artists she admires blossomed in their later years.