How artist Katie Hector creates her enchanting portraits without using a drop of paint

On By Vaseline

The viewer could be forgiven for losing track of the time that lingers in front of one of Katie Hector’s paintings, which through their hypnotic arrays of colors optically advance and recede into something akin to daydreams or memories. Hector, an artist living outside Los Angeles, uses a unique style of painting to create her mesmerizing portraits – unique in that there is no paint involved at all, in the traditional sense of the word. Instead, she uses bleach and dyes to create her compositions, a technique born from experiments in the studio during the pandemic.

“It was in the middle of the pandemic, which gave me the solitude to adjust the process,” Hector said via email. “By layering and introducing moments of erasure, each painting feels alive and allows me to have a different conversation with both the physical canvas and the image.”

Installation view of “Katie Hector: Ego Rip” (2024). Courtesy of Management, New York.

In her solo exhibition ‘Ego Rip’ at Management in New York, on view through May 12, Hector’s refinement of this technical process reaches dizzying heights and clarity. At first glance the figures appear almost chrome, but upon closer inspection they are reminiscent of alternative ways of seeing, such as infrared, X-rays or thermal imaging. However, despite the visual satisfaction of the vivid figuration, the show carries a heavy emotional weight; a sense of loss, sadness and nostalgia is pervasive and speaks to the show’s core themes.

Katie Hector, Death makes angels of us all and gives us wings where we had shoulders as smooth as raven claws (2024). Courtesy of the artist and management, New York.

In the diptych Death makes angels of us all and gives us wings where we had shoulders as smooth as raven claws (2024), with two figures facing each other, their foreheads just touching. The strength of the work lies in the ability to perform multiple measurements simultaneously. It can be thought of as the psychological self meeting its counterpart, id and superego, partners, friends or family members in a shared emotional moment. Each of Hector’s paintings manages to hold space for what the viewer brings to it, an effect of her process.

Katie Hector, Riley (2024). Courtesy of the artist and management, New York.

Each portrait, or rather ‘portrait’, is an amalgamation of references, from isolated social media screenshots to well-researched photographs. The result for the viewer is a feeling of vague recognition, as if you remember who you are being reminded of if you look a little longer.

“I try to steer each portrait away from a transfer of individuality and enjoy it most when a finished work has many different entry points. That is my hope for this body of work,” the artist explains. “I try to open up portrait art and ask myself whether something that looks like me can also feel familiar to you. Can a portrait of someone I know also feel like your sister, friend, aunt or classmate? Can it activate your own story in your head?”

Katie Hector, Dead head I (2024). Courtesy of the artist and management, New York.

While the paintings in ‘Ego Rip’ mainly feature figures, two small-scale paintings function as proverbial bookends. Dead head I And Dead Head II (both 2024). Evoking the tradition of Memento Mori, both feature skulls; one hangs by the door and the other is tucked away in a corner on the opposite side of the gallery space. Together, these paintings serve as compelling and poignant reminders that death is not just a metaphor, but something we carry with us, a lens through which we glimpse our own material being.

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