Breathless (Colossus)

Breathless (Colossus) is a solo exhibition by Ivy Haldeman that explores gender and corporeality through a single repeating figure in repose––a lady who also happens to be a hotdog. Captured in hushed, elegant moments that evoke the mood of classical odalisques or the Japanese woodblock prints of Kitagawa Utamaro, the figure is executed in gentle pastel tones of acrylic and framed with thin, fluid lines. Unabashedly phallic yet feminine in nature, these candid, often amorous, portraits juxtapose gender binaries and their accompanying associations. These images also borrow from movie snack marketing, appealing to several carnal senses at once (the shapely body and the hotdog both possessing a certain sensuality), and investigate the relationship between icons, desire, and consumption. Haldeman's work brings together the language of advertising and high art to confound the gaze; a leisurely figure mashes-up societal ideals of femininity with processed meat, wraps itself in a bun, and quietly settles into a good book.