About

In her meticulously rendered small-scale paintings, Hilary Harkness (b. 1971) fuses traditional techniques with a distinctly contemporary sensibility to explore power struggles inherent in sex, race, and class systems on an uncensored stage.

Working in episodic series that take years to complete, Harkness wields unparalleled skill and imagination to elevate the stories and intersectional experiences of women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ people. Harkness earned her BA from UC Berkeley and her MFA from Yale University.

Her work has been featured in exhibitions at FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain; American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY; Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, OR; and Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, 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, France. She has lectured widely at leading academic and cultural institutions. In 2014, she co-curated Roy Lichtenstein: Nudes and Interiors at FLAG Art Foundation. Harkness’s first solo exhibition with P·P·O·W Gallery, Prisoners from the Front, was on display in fall 2023. 

Co-published by Black Dog Press and P·P·O·W, Hilary Harkness: Everything for You is the first comprehensive monograph on the artist’s work and features new texts by Lynn Tillman, Dr. Ashley Jackson, as well as an interview with American painter Ivy Haldeman.

Harkness was represented by Mary Boone Gallery in New York City from 2003 until the gallery closed in 2019. She is currently represented by P·P·O·W Gallery in New York City.

Education

1996     M.F.A. Yale University, New Haven, CT

1993     B.A. University of California, Berkeley, CA                                                            

Awards

2017 Henry Clews Award Master Residency Program, La Napoule Art Foundation

2009     Rosenthal Family Foundation Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters

2003     Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award

2002     Metcalf Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters    

Solo Exhibitions

2023 P·P·O·W Gallery, NYC, NY

2013     The FLAG Art Foundation, NYC, NY

2011       Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY

2008     Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY

2005     Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY

2004     Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY

2002     Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2001      Bill Maynes Gallery, NYC, NY                                                                            

Group Exhibitions

2020 Days Soon to Fade, PPOW Gallery, NYC, NY. (online viewing room)

2019 Drawn Together Again, FLAG Art Foundation, NYC, NY.

The Pleasure Principle, Maccarone, Los Angeles, CA.

Please Step on the Grass, Right Behind the New Museum, NYC, NY.

GARDEN, Sargent’s Daughters and Shrine, NYC, NY.

2018 Electric Palace, New York Academy of Art, NYC, NY.

2017     Piss and Vinegar: Two Generations of Provocateurs, New York Academy of Art, NYC, NY.

             Female/Feminist/2017, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, Old Lyme, CT.

2016     Her Crowd, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT.

2015 Disturbing Innocence, curated by Eric Fischl, FLAG Art Foundation, NYC, NY.

2012     Figured Spaces, Schmidt Center Gallery at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL.

2011     Heroines, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain.

            Art2, FLAG Art Foundation, NYC, NY.

2010    The Rise & Fall of Excess Culture, Stux Gallery, NYC, NY.

2009    Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, American Academy of Arts and Letters, NYC, NY.

             A Tribute to Ron Warren, Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY.

2007    Old School, Hauser & Wirth Colnaghi, London, England.

             Old School, Zwirner & Wirth, NYC, NY.

             Pleasures of Collecting, Part III: Contemporary and Cutting Edge, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT.

2006    Men, curated by Ellen Altfest, I-20 Gallery, NYC, NY.

2004     Endless Love, DC Moore Gallery, NYC, NY.

2003     American Art Today: Faces and Figures, Art Museum of Florida International University, Miami, FL.

              OnLine, Feigen Contemporary, NYC, NY.

              Future Noir, Grossman Gallery, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania.

              Unforeseen, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon.

2002     Dangerous Beauty, The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, NYC, NY.

              Into the Woods, Julie Saul Gallery, NYC, NY.

              Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, American Academy of Arts and Letters, NYC, NY.

              Fusion Cuisine, Deste Foundation, Athens, Greece.

2001     Wonderland, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts.

             Pixerina Witcherina, University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois.

             Heroine, Dee/Glasoe Gallery, NYC, NY

             Best of the Season, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut.

             View Five : Westworld, Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY.

2000    Timothy B. Buckwalter, Hilary Harkness, Jerry W. King, Lizabeth Oliveria Gallery, San Francisco, California.

1999     Shiny!, Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, California. 

             25/25, Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, California.

1998     Nothing But Time, Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, California.

Curation

Roy Lichtenstein: Nudes and Interiors. Co-curated with Ewen Gibbs.  FLAG Art Foundation, NYC 2014. 

Mum's the Word: Mothers, Flowers & Secrets. Mills Pond House Gallery, Saint James NY, 2012.

Bibliography

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Van Straaten, Laura, A Generational Battle of Subversive Wit at Tribeca’s ‘Piss and Vinegar’, ARTNET NEWS, January 2017.

Galenson, David, Inside New York's Art World: An Interview With Hilary Harkness, HUFFINGTON POST, February 2015.

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