Kasia Houlihan is a Chicago-based artist who works in a variety of media in an effort to get at the experience of relating. With photography, drawing, video, sculpture and language all in her arsenal, she chips away at the concepts of closeness, communication and connectivity. "The notion of 'closeness'—as an indication of emotional attachment, as well as physical proximity or a state of becoming, of 'almost but not quite'—provides me with constant fodder for investigation in multiple media. In an ongoing examination of the experience of relating, I approach the subject matter from all possible angles. This tactic has led me to count photography, drawing, video, audio, sculpture and, most recently, text and artist books all as part of my arsenal thus far in examining ideas involving the interpersonal, synchronicity and closeness. In turn, my research and source material reflect this range of approaches. I draw from song lyrics, crossword puzzle clues, puns and overheard conversations as much as I look at poetry, literature, film and art history for inspiration. "I’m interested in the moment we slip into step with a stranger on the street or align our breath with the person lying next to us. I want to understand how we absorb those around us, soaking up their speech patterns and bad manners. I hope to reveal the complexity of gifts—of both giving and receiving—especially when they come in the form of dedicated words pressed between the pages of a book. I want to push myself to take risks that make me wriggle in my own skin. "I want to wriggle with you." Houlihan has exhibited at such venues as EXPO Chicago, Gallery 400, Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami; Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles; and the de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space, Miami. Houlihan received an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Learn more about Kasia Houlihan’s HATCH exhibitions Release Show and Stand So Close To Me.
HATCH Projects