Rachel Lee Hovnanian | PART II: HAPPY HOUR: New York

NEW YORK, NY - Leila Heller Gallery is pleased to present contemporary artist Rachel Lee Hovnanian's exhibition, PART II of The Women’s Trilogy Project, at Leila Heller Gallery in Manhattan. This is the first time an artist will have three sequential exhibitions in a gallery in New York over the course of six months. This marks Hovnanian's third solo show with the gallery.

PART II titled HAPPY HOUR is a multi-media exhibition that explores domestic culture and gender roles in relationship to alcoholism through a series of paintings, works on paper and multi-media installations using the narrative style of Dick and Jane, and iconography borrowed from Girl Scout and debutante traditions.

HAPPY HOUR was created by Rachel Lee Hovnanian over the course of three years between New York and Los Angeles and is the most personal work to be shown in this series. This exhibition is a deep reflection of her adolescence growing up in the south which challenges the restrictions of her upbringing. Hovnanian uses her works in this series to show the complicated complicit relationship surrounding alcoholism and the domestic order.

PART III, PURE, will open at Leila Heller Gallery on Friday June 8, 2018.

About Rachel Lee Hovnanian

Born in West Virginia and raised in Houston, Texas, Rachel Lee Hovnanian is a New York-based artist whose multidisciplinary practice explores contemporary notions of narcissism, obsession and intimacy, and society’s alienating addiction to media & technological innovations. Hovnanian received her BFA from the University of Texas, Austin, and has since exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Her work is in the collection of both private individuals, corporations and museums.

www.rachelleehovnanian.com | @rachelleehovnanian

About The Women’s Trilogy Project

The Women’s Trilogy Project includes three thematically related installments that expand on the familiar themes explored in the artist's previous body of work, which include addiction, gender roles and our relationship with technology. Hovnanian draws on her Southern upbringing to question our current cultural values, challenging the viewer to question gender barriers and struggles women still face. Working at the intersection of photography, video, sculpture, painting, and installation, Hovnanian’s multidisciplinary practice critically engages how digital technology transformed human relationships and our perceptions of reality.

About Leila Heller Gallery

Since its establishment over three decades ago, Leila Heller Gallery has gained worldwide recognition as a pioneer in promoting creative dialogue and exchange between Western artists and Middle Eastern, Central and Southeast Asian artists. In 2010, the gallery moved from the Upper East Side to its flagship space in Chelsea where it has garnered a reputation for identifying and cultivating the careers of artists leaving a lasting impact on contemporary art and culture.

www.leilahellergallery.com | @leilahellergallery