Chinatown, New York
Katja Farin
Tricksters
GaaGaa is delighted to present Tricksters, a solo exhibition of new works by Katja Farin. Composed of a kaleidoscopic combination of new paintings and ceramic objects, Tricksters further communicates Farin’s reflection upon and theorization of humanity and human connection, centering cleverly layered narratives which exist somewhere between tangible and intangible realities. Tricksters marks Farin’s inaugural solo exhibition with Gaa. Central to recent developments within Farin’s conceptual framework, archetypes such as the ‘trickster’ or the ‘troubadour’ serve as metaphorical proxies for the ambiguity of perceived versus lived truths inherent in the human experience. Often understood within the hermeneutic context as characters who challenge the status-quo through dextrous combinations of humor, mischief, and cunning, the trickster is heralded as an instigator of disruption and a bringer of change. Farin fittingly employs the trickster as a visual tool in their exploration of social binaries such as gender, sexuality, race, and class, questioning the relevance of specific restrictive methodologies of understanding in provocative defense of a recontextualization of that crucial space in-between. Katja Farin (b. 1996, Los Angeles, CA) works in figurative painting depicting the interactions between the subconscious and reality. The relationship between figures is uncertain; the everyday life of sitting at coffee shops, wandering in backyard gardens, answering boring phone calls becomes the backdrop for the internal dialogue with the self that contemplates traumas, coping mechanisms, dreams and distortions. The works are dream spaces that allow the viewer to peek into the interior worlds of the figures, their relationships with the self and others. Bright colors, glowing hands and distorted bodies create the dreamlike dysphoric space that these androgynous figures embody. Farin received a BA in Fine Art from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2018 and is a candidate for an MFA degree from the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Selected solo exhibitions have been held at Gaa, New York; Friends Indeed, San Francisco; Era Gallery, Milan; Lubov, New York; and in lieu, Los Angeles. Their art has been included in group exhibitions at Pace Gallery, Hong Kong; Alexander Berggruen, New York; Beers, London; Wilding Cran, Los Angeles; and Nicodim, Los Angeles. The artist lives and works in London, UK.