Heide Hatry's "Heads and Tales" February 13, 2009

Pierre Menard Gallery presents Heads and Tales; visual art exhibit featuring photographs of “heads” by Heide Hatry, along with the release of a collaborative literary anthology, illustrated by Hatry and including “tales” written by 27 prominent & emerging writers. 13 February through 15 March, with an opening reception (with added attractions) on 13 February, 6-9 pm. Regular gallery hours: open daily, 12-8 pm. Free and open to the public. Pierre Menard Gallery, 10 Arrow Street, Cambridge. For more information, 617-868-2033 or www.pierremenardgallery.com.

Pierre Menard Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition and corresponding book release of Heads and Tales, both conceived by Heide Hatry and held in conjunction with various literary events (readings, book signings, and the premiere of a play) which are to be scheduled during the run.

The portraits in the book Heads and Tales are photographic documentations of sculptures Hatry made out of animal skin and body parts. Hatry’s intention in the anthology is to make the photographic portraits as life-like as possible, vivid and sometimes disposed in positions suggesting movement. She uses untreated pigskin to cover her clay sculptures, adding raw meat for the lips and fresh pig eyes, in order that the resulting portrait appears as if a model is looking at the viewer with a vital expression, which the photographer has just captured.

In fact, a photographer taking a picture of a model prepares for the moment in a way more or less similar to what Hatry has done with her sculptures — the model is made up, hair done just so, and the appropriate lighting and pose are deliberately chosen. Or, if you prefer, Hatry’s approach can be described as being reminiscent of what a mortician does in preparing a corpse for viewing — creating the illusion of life where there is none.

For Hatry, taking photos of her sculptures is like reconstructing life. It simulates a simulation by fabricating an image of a fake face, an image calculated to deceive the viewer, especially since taxidermy [from the Greek, taxis (order or arrangement) and derma (skin)] and photography work so well together. The fake image appears convincing because one expects to see what one is used to seeing. The portrait of a face staring into the camera or captured in a snapshot simply doesn't conjure thoughts of death, even though we are often, in fact, looking at the living image of the dead when we view a photograph. Every photograph is a memento mori, and of course we like to forget that reminder of death, so we are easily persuaded that these images represent real, living people.

Hatry intended through her sculptures to provide springboards for stories, reminiscences or meditations on the lives of women. She asked a number of writers to select the image of one of her women and create a life for her. As the visual work addresses issues of violence, death and gender identity, the writing reflects similar concerns as they are specific to women, not necessarily from an obviously politically fraught or polemical perspective, but more typically resorting to fantasy, satire, irony and other subversive modes of presentation to disrupt the hegemony of the everyday and release the power of its horror.

Most of the color photographs in the exhibition are 20”x30” in size, with a few that are more life-size (12”x18”). During the opening reception, there will also be a “live sculpture” on display, along with the showing of two videos, one focused on how the sculptures were prepared and the other featuring a sculpture used in a surprising manner.

The exhibition is accompanied by the book Heads and Tales, published by Charta Art Books (Milan/New York, 2009), a “collaborative anthology” with an Introduction by Catharine MacKinnon; “Heads” photographs by Heide Hatry; and “Tales” texts written by Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro, Roberta Allen, Jennifer Belle, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Svetlana Boym, Rebecca Brown, Mary Caponegro, Thalia Field, Lo Galluccio, Diana George, Thyrza Nichols Goodeve, Jessica Hagedorn, Elizabeth Hand, Heather Hartley, Joanna Howard, Katia Kapovich, Lydia Millet, Micaela Morrissette, Carol Novack, Julie Oakes, Barbara Purcell, Selah Saterstrom, Johannah Schmid, Iris Smyles, Luisa Valenzuela, Anna Wexler and Can Xue.

Heide Hatry is a visual artist and curator. She grew up in Germany, where she studied art at various art schools and art history at the University of Heidelberg. After she moved to NYC in 2003 she has curated several exhibitions in Germany, Spain and the USA (notably “Skin” at the Goethe Institut in New York, the Heidelberger Kunstverein and Galeria Tribeca in Madrid, Spain; “Out of the Box” at Elga Wimmer PCC in NYC, “Carolee Schneemann, Early and Recent Work, A Survey” at Pierre Menard Gallery in Cambridge, MA and “Meat After Meat Joy” at Daneyal Mahmood Gallery, NYC). She has shown her own work at museums and galleries in those countries as well and edited more than a dozen books and art catalogues. Kehrer Verlag published her book Skin in 2005.

Official Website: http://www.pierremenardgallery.com