Lipstick and Load
Erica Prince and Katie Rauth
Presented as part of Just In Time: 30 Years of Collective Practice
Friday, April 26 – Sunday, June 23, 2019
Closing Reception: Artist Talk + Catalogue Release: Sunday, June 23, 2019 | 3-6pm
In the spirit of intergenerational collaboration and their friendship that began because of a shared appreciation for all things femme, Vox Populi alumna Erica Prince and current member Katie Rauth join forces for Lipstick and Load, an exhibition that celebrates feminine rituals, self love and eccentrically constructed identities. Lipstick and Load is a phrase borrowed from Hollywood. Comparable to “lock and load” montages from action films depicting a man preparing to become a hero, the “lipstick and load” montage depicts women applying makeup, considering themselves in the mirror, and preparing for something consequential.
Working with material excess as it relates to women’s bodies, Rauth’s large scale sculptures and performative video explore dramatic self indulgence and radical narcissism. Prince’s drawings and styled ceramics consider femininity and constructed identity through speculative, fill-in-the-blank scenarios. Together, the work is pink and playful, but reminds us that these exercises in self actualization are anything but superficial.
About the Artists
Erica Prince is a New York based multidisciplinary artist whose ceramics, drawings, installations and relational projects endeavor to give people perspective on the here and now by presenting frameworks within which they can explore variation. Recent projects and exhibitions include Osamu Kobayashi and Erica Prince at Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York, The Transformational Makeover Salon at UNCOMMON BEAUTY NY, Otherwild NY and PULSE Miami Beach, Things You Can’t Unthink at Banff Centre in Alberta Canada, and Dollhouse at Vox Populi, Philadelphia PA. Her works have been featured in T: New York Times Style Magazine, Architectural Digest, Vice, Artsy, Wallpaper and Canadian Art. She holds an MFA from Tyler School of Art and a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and has been awarded residencies at Banff Centre, The Vermont Studio Center, The Garrison Institute and The Fabric Workshop and Museum.
More Info: erica-prince.com
Katie Rauth is a multidisciplinary artist based in Philadelphia, PA. Her current work plays the intersection of fatness, queerness and camp, exploring issues of fat femininity and the subversive nature of material excess. Recently, she has also explored these themes through drag, in her own performance work and in her curated event series Wavelengths. In that body of work, Rauth focuses on the surprisingly narrow mindset of gender expression/identity in mainstream drag, and amplifies and empowers marginalized identities within queer communities. Katie Rauth is a member of Vox Populi and a 2018 recipient of the Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant.
More Info: katierauth.com