K8 Hardy

K8 Hardy (b. 1977, U.S.A.) lives and works in New York City. K8 Hardy works through performance without allegiance to any particular medium. Her palette draws on the tropes of fashion advertising, combining some of its most recognizable modes into an abstraction of the genre. She mines pop culture for material and eschews craft based virtuosity in photography, sculpture and video. Hardy believes in the power of flamboyant and bold gestures, and in conversations of play, which constitute her endeavours toward total expression. Hardy is a founding member of the queer feminist journal and artist collective LTTR, and has directed music videos for groups including Le Tigre, Lesbians on Ecstasy, and Men. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, and has been exhibited and performed internationally at venues including MoMA PS1 and Artists Space, New York City (both 2010); Gallery Sonja Junkers, Munich (2010); and The Tate Modern, London (2006 and 2007); amongst others. K8 Hardy is represented by Reena Spaulings Fine Art. She holds a BA in Film and Women’s Studies (2000) from Smith College in Northampton, studied at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program (2003) in New York City, and holds a MFA (2008) from the Milton Avery Graduate School for the Arts at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson.