K8 Hardy (born 1977, Fort Worth, Texas) is an American

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

and

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

.(2018, March 26). Hardy, K8. ''Benezit Dictionary of Artists.'' Retrieved 14 Dec. 2020, from https://www-oxfordartonline-com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/benezit/view/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-2297903. Hardy's work spans painting, sculpture, video, and photography and her work has been exhibited internationally at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

Tensta Konsthall Tensta konsthall is a center for contemporary art in the Stockholm suburb of Tensta, northwest of the city center. The gallery works with artists from both Sweden and abroad, often in conjunction with local associations and organizations in the ...

e, Karma International, and the

Dallas Contemporary Dallas Contemporary, founded in 1978, is a contemporary art museum located in the Design District of Dallas, Texas, Dallas, Texas. Description Dallas Contemporary is a non-collecting art museum presenting new and challenging ideas from regional, ...

.(2018, March 26). Hardy, K8. ''Benezit Dictionary of Artists.'' Retrieved 14 Dec. 2020, from https://www-oxfordartonline-com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/benezit/view/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-2297903. Hardy’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art,

the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

, and

the Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of the ...

. She is a founding member of the

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

artist collective An artist collective is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything that is relevant to the need ...

and journal LTTR. She lives and works in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

Early life and education

Hardy was born on October 27, 1977, in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, TX. Hardy uses the moniker “K8” as shorthand for her first name which she adopted while publishing

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...

s in high school.White, M. (2008). Opposition + Equivocation: K8 Hardy. ''Art Papers'', ''32''(3), 18–23. She attended

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

, in Northampton, MA and graduated with a degree in film and feminist/queer theory in 2000. She studied video with Elisabeth Subrin through the Five College Consortium. Later, she worked alongside

Miranda July Miranda July (born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger; February 15, 1974) is an American film director, screenwriter, singer, actress and author. Her body of work includes film, fiction, monologue, digital presentations and live performance art. She w ...

and the

Northwest Film Center PAM CUT–Center for an Untold Tomorrow, formerly the ''Northwest Film Center'' is a Pacific Northwest, regional media arts resource and service organization based in Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, United States that was founded to encourage t ...

in Portland, OR. In 2003, she studied at the

Independent Study Program in 2003 alongside other artists like Ulrike Mueller and Lisa Oppenheim. Hardy went on to receive an MFA from the

Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts is a graduate program associated with Bard College that grants Master of Fine Arts degrees. Founded in 1981, Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts (otherwise known as the Bard MFA program) is a nontraditi ...

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic ...

in 2008.

Work

In 2001, K8 Hardy co-founded LTTR, a genderqueer feminist art collective in New York. The collective’s co-creators include Ginger Brooks Takahashi and Emily Roysdon, and, in 2005, Ulrike Müller joined the collective.Campbell, A. (2015). K8 Hardy. ''Aperture'', ''218'', 104–109. LTTR’s mission centered on "highlighting the work of radical communities whose goals are sustainable change, queer pleasure, and critical feminist productivity.” LTTR first began as a journal and eventually expanded to include live events, screenings, collaborations, read-ins, and workshops. Hardy started a color-photocopy zine, ''FashionFashion'', in 2002. ''FashionFashion'' depicted Hardy styled in second-hand clothing. The zine morphed into a solo exhibition of four oversized books exhibited at Higher Pictures Generation in 2014 and Reena Spaulings Fine Art in 20019. Writer

Andrew Durbin Andrew Durbin is an American poet, novelist, and editor. As of 2019, he has served as editor-in-chief of Frieze magazine. Prior to his position at Frieze, he co-founded Company Gallery, served as the Talks Curator at the Poetry Project, and serve ...

has noted that the zine is somewhere between avant couture and “

riot grrrl Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. Riot grrrl is a subcultur ...

esque” and features various

self-portrait A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...

s alongside handwritten musings on ghosts. From 2002 to 2007, Hardy and Greenwood created? ''New Report''. The piece featured both artists playing female newscasters for a fictional radio show, WKRH, and reporting on the news. Both artists, clad in

beret A beret ( or ; ; eu, txapela, ) is a soft, round, flat-crowned cap, usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, wool felt, or acrylic fibre. Mass production of berets began in 19th century France and Spain, and the beret remains ...

trench coat A trench coat or trenchcoat is a variety of coat made of waterproof heavy-duty fabric, originally developed for British Army officers before the First World War, and becoming popular while used in the trenches. Originally made from gabardine, ...

s, and turtlenecks, touch upon subjects such as '60s and '70s feminism, queer politics, and

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental health ...

through various different activities: burning bras, in-depth interviews, and various news reports utilizing a giant pink

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and public ...

. In 2004, Hardy performed ''Beautiful Radiating Energy'', at

Reena Spaulings Reena Spaulings is a collective project in the medium of a novel, artist persona, and institutional art gallery active from 2005 to present in New York City. The Gallery's Co-founders and Co-Directors include Carissa Rodriguez, John Kelsey and Emi ...

. In the performance piece, Hardy stretched and exercised in front of a projected video while chanting: "I am happy; I am here; I am hurt. I'm ready!" This was the artist’s first performance piece in New York. Video footage included images of Hardy's friend Math walking away from the camera, found footage of reactions to the burial of

Baader-Meinhof The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970. The ...

terrorists, gay rights parades, and body building competitions. In 2017, Hardy re-staged the performance at Participant Inc. with artist

Raúl de Nieves Raul de Nieves (born 1983, Michoacán, Mexico) is a multimedia artist, performer, and musician. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Early life De Nieves grew up in Michoacán, Mexico. His father passed away when de Nieves was two. Several ...

as the performer. In 2007, Hardy and Greenwood performed ''New Report Live'' at the

in London. That same year, Hardy performed ''Bare Life'' with the musician and sound artist Stefan Tcherepnin. As inspiration for the piece, both artists responded to texts by Giorgio Agamben that revolved around his concept of ''Bare Life''. Hardy became a founding member of Working Artists and the Greater Economy, or W.A.G.E, in 2008. W.A.G.E. was founded by the artists A.L. Steiner, A.K. Burns,

ginger brooks takahashi Ginger Brooks Takahashi (born July 26, 1977) is an American artist based in Brooklyn, New York, and North Braddock, Pennsylvania. A self-identified “punk,” Takahashi grew up in Oregon. She co-founded the feminist genderqueer collective and jou ...

, and is a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

and activist group that aims "to establish sustainable economic relationships between artists and the institutions that contract our labor, and to introduce mechanisms for self-regulation into the art field that collectively bring about a more equitable distribution of its economy.” In 2010, the artist created a

capsule collection A capsule wardrobe is a collection of clothing that is composed of interchangeable items only, to maximise the number of outfits that can be created. The aim is to have an outfit suitable for any occasion without owning excessive items of clothing ...

, titled J’APPROVE, produced by artist Travis Boyer for the 2011 JF & Son pop-up shop in New York. Hardy exhibited several sculptures and photographs in the 2012

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...

. Alongside the sculptures and photographs, Hardy organized a performance called ''Untitled Runway Show'' on the exhibition’s fourth-floor. The performance included live models on a catwalk wearing anti-couture outfits designed by Hardy. The

set design Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...

was by

Oscar Tuazon Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

and the music was by Venus X. In 2016, Hardy premiered her first feature length film, Outfitumentary. ''Outfitumentary'' is a documentary …. collection of self-portrait videos shot over ten years on a miniature DV camera from 2001 to 2011 and was premiered in 2016 at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

and at the

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

.BALLARD, T. (2016). Dress up. ''Modern Painters'', ''28''(8), 78–85. In 2020, Hardy exhibited a single ten-foot-long green, yellow, and pink-colored painting, resembling a

maxi pad A menstrual pad, or simply a pad, (also known as a sanitary pad, sanitary towel, sanitary napkin or feminine napkin) is an absorbent item worn by women in their underwear when menstruating, bleeding after giving birth, recovering from gynecolo ...

, at Reena Spaulings New York.

Johanna Fateman Johanna Rachel Fateman (born May 16, 1974) is an American writer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. She is a member of the post-punk rock band Le Tigre and founded the band MEN with Le Tigre bandmate JD Samson. Early life and education ...

selected the piece as one of her favorite artworks from 2020. Critic

Sarah Nicole Prickett Sarah Nicole Prickett is a writer, art critic and Editing, editor. She was the founder and editor of Adult (magazine), ''Adult'', an arts and criticism magazine that launched in 2013. Early life Prickett was born in London, Ontario. She lived ...

and artist

Nicole Eisenman Nicole Eisenman (born 1965) is French-born American artist known for her oil paintings and sculptures. She has been awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship (1996), the Carnegie Prize (2013), and has thrice been included in the Whitney Biennial (1995, 20 ...

have compared the work to a painting as sculpture and sculpture as painting similar to

Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...

’s early soft sculptures,

Frank Stella Frank Philip Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. Stella lives and works in New York City. Biography Frank Stella was born in M ...

’s objects, and

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...

’s ''Cut-Out (1948—1950).''

Selected Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

* 2020, A NEW PAINTING, Reena Spaulings, New York, NY * 2017, K8 Hardy: Undergirding Heroine Ensemble, The Barn, Tivoli, NY * 2016, Docudrama, Reena Spaulings Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA * 2016, Aunt Margie, Company, New York * 2015, NEW CUTS K8 HARDY, University of California, Irvine * 2014, YDRAH 8K, Künstlerhaus Halle fur Kunst & Medien, Graz, Austria * 2011, K8 Hardy, Galerie BaliceHertling, Paris, France * 2010, FeminismFormalism, Galerie Sonja Junkers, Munich, Germany * 2010, Freeing the Natural Voice, on the Perpetual Horizon of Devastation, Some Notes on Lying, Hard Hat, Geneva, Switzerland * 2009, Position Series, Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, NY * 2005, ''New Report (collaboration with Wynne Greenwood)'', Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, NY

Group exhibitions

* 2020 Photography and the Surreal Imagination, The Menil Collection, Houston, US * 2019 Fire, Company Gallery, New York, US * 2018 Tag: Proposals on Queer Play and the Ways Forward, ICA Philadelphia, Philadelphia, US * 2018, Fashion Drive. Extreme Clothing in the Visual Arts, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, CH * 2016, Outfitumentary, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY * 2015, ''Outfitumentary'', Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, NY * 2012, Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY * 2010, Greater New York, MoMA PS1, Queens, NY * 2010, Fluorescent Adolescent, Schunck: Biennial of Photography and Visual Arts, Heerlen, The Netherlands * 2010, 50 Artists Photograph the Future, Higher Pictures, New York, NY * 2009, Reflections on Electric Mirror: New Feminist Video, Brooklyn Museum, NY

Selected Screenings

* 2018, Outfitumentary, Boston University, Boston, MA, US * 2016, Outfitumentary, International of Contemporary Arts, London, England, Outfitumentary, Outfest, Los Angeles, CA, Outifitumentary, T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival, Poland, Outfitumentary, International Film Festival of Rotterdam, Official Selection, Outfitumentary, Doc Fortnight, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, Outfitumentary, FIT, New York, New York * 2016, Grrrl Germs: A Visual History of Riot Grrrl, (Mark Lukenbill) Spectacle, Brooklyn, NY * 2015, Outfitumentary, Advanced Screening, Pop Montreal, Montreal, Canada * 2008, Video Art and Film by K8 Hardy, Light Industry, New York, NY * 2005, Promiscuous Cinema, Cinematheque at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA * 2004, Basic Needs, Ms. Film Festival, Durham, NC * 2003, Almost Paradise, New York Underground Film Festival, New York, NY * 2003, Swans and Eunuchs, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH * 2003, K8 Hardy, Robert Beck Memorial Cinema, New York, NY * 2003, Works by K8 Hardy, Film Casino, Vienna, Austria (curated by Ulrike Muller) * 2003, Peripheral Produce, Northwest Film Center, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR * 2003, Caution: Open Flame, Flaming Film Festival, Minneapolis, MN * 2003, The Platinum Tapes, Ocularis, Brooklyn, NY (curated by Lauren Cornell) * 2003, Video Marathon, Art in General, New York, NY * 2003, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Chicago, IL

Selected Performances

* 2017, Beautiful Radiating Energy with Raúl de Nieves (organized by Rhea Anastas), Participant Inc, New York, NY * 2013, Performance, Kunstverein Graz * 2010, New Paintings, Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, NY (curated by Pati Hertling) * 2010, Evas Arche und der Feminist, Artists Space, New York, NY * 2007, New Report Live: Bankside Power Station, The Tate Modern, London, UK; with Wynne Greenwood Bare Life, Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, NY * 2006, New Report, Hayward Gallery with London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, London, UK * 2004, Beautiful Radiating Energy, Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, NY * 2004, Beautiful Radiating Energy West Coast Tour, Artists’ Television Access, San * 2004, Francisco, CA Experimental Media for Feminist Trespass, Pilot Television,Chicago, IL

Public Collections

* LUMA foundation collection, Zürich, CH * Museum of Modern Art, New York, US * Whitney Museum of Art, New York, US * Fiorruci Art Trust * Deutsche Bank Headquarters, Frankfurt, DE

Artist’s Publications and Text

* 2018, “K8 Hardy,” Artist's Projects, ArtForum, January 2018 * 2016, Queer, “K8 Hardy, Amifesto 2006” editor David Getsy, Whitechapel Gallery and MIT Press * 2014, K8 HARDY/YDRAH, 8K editor Christian Eggerer * 2013, How To: Untitled Runway Show D.O.P.E. Press * 2013, Next Time, “Dear Reena Spaulings Fine Art” ed. Geer, David and Pool, Isaac, Macie Gransion and Envoy Enterprises * 2011, Frank Peter John Dick by K8 Hardy; essay Eileen Myles (New York: Capricious Publishing, 2011) * 2011, Mousse Magazine, “Andrea Dworkin” No. 28 April 2011 * 2011, Useless, “The Angst of Commerce”, p15, ed. Conrad Ventur (New York: 2010) * 2010, Useless, “The Angst of Commerce” No. 10 December 2010, p15 * 2009, Sessions/Zeitschrift, “Re-working the In-Between, Shaking It Out.” May 2009, No. 17, pp 31–34 * 2009, Company, “Advertisement, Performance, Style, and Authenticity” pp138–144, ed. Meghan DellaCrosse, Fawn Krieger, and Claire Sexton, (New York: Art In General, 2009) * 2009, Company, “Advertisement, Performance, Style, and Authenticity” pp138–144, ed. Meghan DellaCrosse, Fawn Krieger, and Claire Sexton, (New York: Art In General, 2009) * 2009, Sessions/Zeitschrift, “Re-working the In-Between, Shaking It Out.” May 2009, Ausgabe 17, pp 31–34, ed. Christian Egger and Christian Mayer, Vienna * 2008, Queer Zines, Ed. AA Bronson and Philip Aarons, “Fashionfashion” pp90–91 and “LTTR” pp154–155, (New York: Printed matter, Inc., 2008) * 2008, Artforum, “The Artists’ Artists” December 2008, XLVII, No.4, p99 * Fashionfashion, Artist Book Project, Issues 1-5 (2004–present) * North Drive Press, “K8 Hardy and Ulrike Mueller” Issue 3 (New York: Matt Keegan and Sara Greenberger Rafferty, 2006) * 2006, Ridykeulous, Issue 1, p. 7 (New York: Nicole Eisenman and A.L. Steiner, 2006) * 2005, Arts & Leisure, Co-Editor (New York: Art in General, 2005) * 2005, Untitled, “Artist Project: K8 Hardy” Autumn 2005, No. 36, pp50–51 (London: ed. Mario Flecha and Olivia Plender) * 2004, Fashionfashion, Issues 1-5 (2004–present)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, K8 Living people People from Fort Worth, Texas 1977 births Artists from New York City American LGBT artists Lesbian artists Queer feminists American performance artists Musicians from Brooklyn Smith College alumni American documentary film directors American women documentary filmmakers