Best-Laid Plans: Private Gallery Night + Artist Talk with Whit Harris

Join us for a private after-hours viewing and artist-led walkthrough of Best-Laid Plans, a new solo show of work by Whit Harris at the Peninsula gallery.

Whit Harris’ (b. 1985, Brooklyn, NY) is a multi-disciplinary artist whose most recent paintings further build upon her explorations of the black femme body. In this ongoing series of works, the figures depicted are manifestations of Harris’s own emotional turmoil, formed by being entrenched in a culture of patriarchy, colonialism, and white supremacy.

The subjects of these paintings are trapped in varying Arcadian scenes evocative of the classical, European tradition of landscape painting. However, in Harris’s hands, these environments come to represent society’s unrelenting oppressive systems. The femmes’ bodies are in conflict with their settings—twisted, cramped, and in some cases, segmented into pieces. Grass, clouds, rain, and smoke wrap around their forms, contorting the figures into cartoonishly over-extended poses. The sky, ground, and other natural features poke and prod, crush and entangle. These highly exaggerated figures, sharply contrasting with their settings, delve into the complexities of identity and power.

This will be a special opportunity to hear from the artist and learn more about her work while also connecting with fellow art-full New Yorkers.

Please note:

• Event is gender inclusive and open to all with an interest in art, community and culture
• All tickets include the private gallery night with artist talk - wine & snacks to be served.