Peregrine Honig
Peregrine Honig (b. 1976) was born in San Francisco and attended the Kansas City Art Institute. She currently lives in Kansas City where she creates artwork and owns a lingerie and swimwear boutique called Birdies. Her work is being feverishly collected throughout the United States and is already in major permanent and private collections such as- The Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Art Gallery, The Fogg Art Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, 21c Museum Hotel, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, and Ball State University Museum of Art. Peregrine Honig came in second place on the first season of Bravo’s Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.
Drawing inspiration from popular culture, Peregrine Honig creates intricate drawings that explore elements of the modern world, often with whimsy, wit, and verve. Frequently analyzing social and political issues, her work aims to elicit shock, discomfort, and attraction as a means of instigating conversations about pressing cultural concerns. For instance, in the series Anchor Babies (2010), Honig depicts young women giving birth to symbols of patriotism, luxury, sickness, and sexuality, using such images to critique cross-cultural dynamics in America.
Honig's work has been exhibited throughout the United States and, at the age of 22, she became the youngest living artist to enter the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art. In addition to more traditional exhibition venues, Honig and her work were featured on the first season of the Bravo reality television show "Work of Art: The Next Great Artist" in 2010.
ARTIST STATEMENT on #HOTELDRAWINGS SERIES
"I arrived to my studio and the space behind me was holding auditions. I considered going home to draw but I knew my dishes had piled up and I would spend more time being upset about the clutter than resolving it. I went to my larger studio and the ceiling was being painted. The Phillips Hotel has an ongoing artist in residency program called Hello Art. I called the woman in charge, Kelly Jander, and asked for a room, a self-appointed micro residency. I brought only my basics- pen, paper, ink. I responded to myself in a space attempting to maintain neutral energy. I felt the shadows of bodies sleeping, fucking, showering in a room redressed every day to appear unfettered by any recent happenings. The work spilled out of me. I ordered a Bulleit with a large ice cube at three from room service and drew without stopping until dark. When I went to post a few images, I realized the bodies were too exposed for Instagram and Facebook. I began to use the ink as a veil. I released and manipulated where the pigment fell across the page focusing on masking nipples and genitals. The black pools drooled around the heads and became sinister and succubus. The drawings and the room are both a suite. I feel like a cross between Eloise and Gaby Hoffman working alone in temporary luxury.
I love the nature of using such an old set of tools in the context of a contemporary public feed. Working the paper and posting the images is as immediate as the responses from one image to the next."
- Peregrine Honig 2015
Peregrine Honig
bridge card, pigment
2 x 3.5''
1998
signed by artist