Extra

Cristina Banban, Gina Beavers, Charlie Billingham, Fernando Botero, Jonathan Chapline, Monica Kim Garza, Todd James, Misaki Kawai, Taylor McKimens, Rebecca Morgan, Vanessa Prager, George Rouy, Koichi Sato, Francine Spiegel, Jansson Stegner, Eric Yahnker The Hole is proud to present a group exhibition of big women; in body or spirit—or both. Sixteen paintings fill our polka-dotted main gallery space, ranging from emerging works like the above by young Spanish artist Cristina Banban, to octogenarian Colombian artist Fernando Botero. Depicting women that are "large and in charge" or "over the top", the works might be Rubenesque, zaftig, powerful or pretty—but not petite. Works like Koichi Sato’s bodybuilders or Gina Beavers' thick-lipped reliefs are buff and bold; Misaki Kawai and Monica Kim Garza paint the playful and unapologetic, Rebecca Morgan's self-portrait is frazzled and unflinching, while Charlie Billingham crosses over into the repugnantly porcine, big as a sofa. Jonathan Chapline paints a female nude extra thick—like carved from wood thick—while Todd James takes curves into a fantasy world of giant women warriors. Jansson Stegner contributes a subtly giant athlete eating a robust breakfast, while Francine Spiegel depicts a food-covered female emerging from sludge in the witchiest way. Vanessa Prager's bodies are shaped by a thick few inches of oil paint; a group of juicy nude ladies with just a hint of horribleness. George Rouy airbrushes thin wisps of paint to build his giant "singer", soft and blurred except for her squiggly pubes. Taylor McKimens takes a more "odalisque" approach to the nude, with a confident young lady reclining in a disheveled interior. Lastly, Eric Yahnker exhibits an oil pastel that is truly "extra", as the sitter has extra heads, extra mouths and extra tongues in an over abundance of eroticism. Without focusing too much on “extra large,” the exhibition is more interested in just “extra.” A slang term in the past few years for being too much, over the top; maybe trying too hard, or just too in-your-face, EXTRA is enough like a compliment that I am into it. Being a size extra large tall can feel like there is too much of yourself, an overabundance of you, taking up too much space and being looked at, so I personally am psyched to be in a show of similar scale. And tone, as of course I am aware that a lot of the shows I have curated in the past fifteen years have been, perhaps at times, a bit loud. Hence our polka-dotted walls, investigating what too-muchness can look like in the exhibition design, pushing the whole show, we hope, over the top. It is a lot—there is definitely some extra!