Moulting New Artwork by KAMA A Collaboration between Katy Crowe and Margarete Hahner November 17– December 19, 2022 Opening Reception: Saturday, November 19, 3:00–6:00 p.m. Gallery hours: Monday–Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
LA TATE GALLERY is pleased to present Moulting New Artwork by KAMA, a collaboration between Katy Crowe and Margarete Hahner.
Are two heads better than one? In many areas of endeavor the answer is a clear and resounding “yes!” In painting, literature and the other arts, however, the answer is less obvious; artistic collaborations raising thorny questions of interpretation that are not easily answered. Even more so in the art marketplace which reacts warily to the fact of dual authorship, the sales pitch sometimes elevating one partner to the lead position while quietly relegating the other to the role of “invaluable assistant.” Undaunted by these challenges, or perhaps even energized by them, artists Katy Crowe and Margaret Hahner have embarked on a collaborative project that intertwines their two different painting practices and then—to make matters just a tiny bit more complicated—credits the product of their collective efforts to a third party, a fictive colleague they call KAMA.
When painting on her own, Crowe’s art is resolutely abstract. Hahner’s own paintings, while by no means “realistic,” often feature recognizable imagery and perhaps even an implied narrative; elements found nowhere in her colleague’s work. Notwithstanding these differences, Crowe and Hahner share an improvisatory attitude towards paint application and an openness to discoveries made “on the canvas,” so to speak, that makes collaboration imaginable and, as these new paintings demonstrate, richly productive.
Andy Warhol—himself no stranger to collaboration—once advised his fellow artists to “always have a product that is not you.” Working now, at a different historical moment and with a different set of motives, Crowe and Hahner see the wisdom of Warhol’s words and, operating through KAMA, cheerfully comply with his instructions.
Katy Crowe was born in Pasadena, CA and lives and works in Los Angeles. She has been a practicing abstract painter for more than 40 years. After High School in NYC, she attended the Art Student’s League. Crowe received her BFA from the Santa Barbara Art Institute where she studied painting with James Jarvaise, and her MFA from MICA where her advisors were Babe Shapiro, Salvatore Scarpitta, and Edward Dugmore. After finishing her MFA, she lived in Paris, France where she met Michael Goldberg, who introduced her to Joan Mitchell, with whom she became friends. Returning to Los Angeles in the early ‘80’s, she has been painting and exhibiting ever since. Her pursuit of painting is an ongoing dialog within the vocabulary of abstraction through the elements of color, line and form, using traditional materials (oil and linen), exploring various metaphors in nature and elsewhere, searching for balance and beauty. Crowe’s work is in both public and private Collections such as the Broad Corporation Collection (Sun America), The Capitol Group, Deutsche Bank, The McNay Museum, San Antonio, TX.
Margarete Hahner was born in Bamberg, Germany and lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and Berlin Germany; She studied at Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe, Germany (Meisterschülerin Per Kirkeby); She’s had solo exhibitions at Zwinger Galerie, Berlin; Kunstverein Schwäbisch Hall, Schwäbisch Hall; Taut Haus Berlin; and Cubist Spinoff, Los Angeles; L. A. Valley College, Van Nuys; Schloss Wiepersdorf, Wiepersdorf; Kunstverein Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven; Soma Produzentengalerie, Berlin; Galerie Brochier, Munich; Galerie Beck, Erlangen; and Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe. Her work is in the following Public Collections: Berlinische Galerie Berlin; Kupferstichkabinett Berlin; Neuer Berliner Kunstverein Berlin; Deutsche Bank. Stipends/awards: Kunstfonds Bonn; Kunstpreis der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken. She is a recipient of the following Grants: Schloss Wiepersdorf; Stiftung Kulturfond Berlin; Arbeitsstipendium des Berliner Senats Für WFK, Hoppe-Ritter Kunstförderung, Stuttgart; Stipendium des Berliner Künstlerinnen Programms Goldrausch Künstlerinnennetzwerk; Landesgraduiertenstipendium Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart.
For more information please contact Alan Standen via latategallery@gmail.com or 310.409.7854
