Hilary Harkness Joins P.P.O.W. Gallery in New York -ARTnews

P.P.O.W. Gallery in Manhattan has added the New York–based painter Hilary Harkness, who was represented by the now-shuttered Mary Boone Gallery from 2003 to 2019, to its roster. The enterprise will present a series of new paintings by Harkness at Art Basel Miami Beach in December, and it will present a solo exhibition of her work in 2021.

Harkness is best known for her detailed, figurative paintings depicting intricate narratives, and she often focuses on power, war, and gender in her practice. Many of her works reference historical and mythological events, and the gallery’s presentation at Art Basel Miami Beach will feature works that aim to reimagine mid-19th-century American history.

Wendy Olsoff, cofounder of P.P.O.W., told ARTnews that Harkness fits well with the gallery’s program, as a figurative painter who examines social and political issues in her work. “She has a very individual voice,” Olsoff said. “Her point of view and technique and idiosyncratic style are very much her own… I think a lot of younger women and men don’t know her work and seeing it at our gallery will be eye-opening and exciting.”

Olsoff called Harkness “New York’s best-kept secret artist,” and added, “I think we’ll bring her to a much larger audience.”

Harkness’s paintings have been exhibited at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid and the Deste Foundation in Athens, among other institutions, and her work can be found in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.