Katja Farin at Lubov

Artist: Katja Farin

Exhibition title: Lines from Arguments

Venue: Lubov, New York, US

Date: March 14 – April 26, 2020

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Lubov, New York

Depthless theatrical spaces in color palettes of decomposing fruits set the stage for alienation and co-dependency to unfold between Katja Farin’s easily relatable subjects. In bright but unsettling mise en scènes, catatonic characters rely on frozen gesture to disclose their nuanced interpersonal relationships. This muted desperation for communication reinforces proximity and socialization as basic needs for survival. The aphasic actors also interact with carefully selected props. Ropes and nets dually function as boundaries and tethers; space akin to a two-way mirror creates inverted portals to internal space or reflects distant figures from somewhere “offstage”.

In this suite of new paintings, Farin further explores the closed-circuit dynamics of couples, specifically, the moment communication is strained, manipulated, and weaponized in a fight. Derived from a single line plucked from an argument, the paintings illustrate when tensions between a pair reach a fever-pitch and condense around attitudes. The scenes are snapshots of an unknowable past offered up to be filled with one’s own history.

Although often working from staged scenes in the studio with friends as models, Farin’s nondescript facial features and indifferent expressions fashion subjects as mirrors or vessels equip with ample space to hold the psyche of the viewer. The subjects’ uniform demeanor, expressions, and features echo the notion that every interpersonal interaction contains a projection of the self. By granting a removed perspective, Farin exposes just how interchangeable and common our experiences are, yet any conception of a collective unconscious still must be localized in individual bodies.

—Marie Heilich, March 2020

Katja Farin (b. 1996, Los Angeles, CA) lives and works in Los Angeles. Farin earned a BA in Fine Art from UCLA. Her work has been featured as a Critic’s Pick in Artforum, for her first solo show at in lieu, Los Angeles. She was featured as one of Cultured Magazine’s 30 under 35 artists for 2020.