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LOREN HOLLAND: Native Strangers (..and stranger Natives)

October 26, 2006- December 9, 2006

Loren Holland

AnnaKustera

520 W 21st St

AnnaKustera is pleased to present LOREN HOLLAND: Native Strangers (..and stranger Natives), the debut solo show for this Los Angeles native. The exhibition opens on October 26 and continues through December 9, 2006. In her most recent series of paintings, Holland depicts verdant landscapes populated by young, voluptuous women confidently posing in alluring stances. Beyond their seductive gazes and posturing, there lie more poignant and critical examinations of conformity, race, and identity.

Holland’s show title, “Native Strangers (…and Stranger Natives)”, refers to the idea of being a tourist within one’s own culture, of geographic and cultural displacement, and the overt and subtle implications of what the artist describes as the “subconscious discrimination” of Afro-Latinos (dark-skinned Latinos of African or indigenous birth) within the larger Latino cultures. Using symbolic objects and allegory, she paints scenes of the inner and outward conflict born of racial and socioeconomic assimilation.

One picture in particular, “Los Caprichos Femininos”, makes use of elements from the famous series of etchings, “Los Caprichos”, by Francisco de Goya. Goya described his series as depicting "the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual”. Holland makes use of these symbols and principals to construct her own commentary on the dangers of denying one’s ethnic and culture heritage. In “Los Caprichos Femininos”, the artist’s “maja” coyly peeks out from her fan, while buxom light-skinned and dark-skinned Latina harpies menacingly circle around her. Holland women embody the inner and outer strife of maintaining a strong, confident and cohesive identity.

Loren Holland is a recent MFA graduate of Yale University (2005) and currently lives in Los Angeles. Her work is included in the group exhibition ‘Figuring the Landscape’ at The Contemporary Art Galleries at the University of Connecticut and will be featured as a solo project at the Santa Monica Museum of Art next year. This will be her first solo exhibition.

Books and DVDs related to artists in this show

Location   Gallery AnnaKustera Address 520 W 21st St New York (Chelsea) NY, 10011 United States Phone 212-989-0082 Fax 212-989-0456

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