Equally inspired by childbirth manuals, Georgia O\u2019Keeffe and her own hormones, pregnancy and motherhood, Hollowell paints beautiful anatomical abstractions. She opens up about her cosmic birth and out-of-body experience<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s magical,\u201d says Loie Hollowell. \u201cIt\u2019s such good timing!\u201d The artist, speaking via Zoom from her studio in Queens, New York, is referring to the Artemis II moon mission. Little did she know, when she named her latest painting series Overview Effect, after the term used by astronauts to describe the experience of seeing Earth from space and the profound feelings of awe and interconnectedness it provokes, that she\u2019d be coinciding with this space odyssey. But she is not surprised anyone would want to leave Earth for a while. \u201cWe\u2019re having so many problems here,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Overview Effect, currently at London\u2019s Pace Gallery, features large-scale canvases combining twin concave and convex sculpted circles. If you folded the canvasses in half vertically, the halves would fit perfectly together. The works, which radiate outwards in rings of glorious colour that are both vibrant and soothing, are a continuation of earlier works focusing on pregnancy and birth through abstraction. Her Split Orb paintings and Dilation Stage series of pastel drawings responded to the difficult birth of her son in a New York hospital. Overview Effect is a result of her daughter\u2019s easier arrival: a \u201ccosmic\u201d home birth that she found far more empowering.<\/p>\n
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