Hilary Harkness

Hilary Harkness (born 1971) is an American artist whose paintings frequently depict surreal worlds inhabited solely by women. She often portrays her female subjects as miniaturized figures set within complexly arranged mechanical or military environments, usually engaged in erotic, violent, or sado-masochistic scenarios. Her work has dealt with themes such as power, war and gender while exploring the subject of queerness through historical and fictionalized storytelling. Harkness has work included in the Whitney Museum of American Art collection, and she has had solo shows at the Mary Boone Gallery (now defunct) as well as the P.P.O.W. Gallery in Manhattan. She has lectured at institutions such as Colombia University, Yale University, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Herron School of Art at Indiana University Indianapolis. Harkness graduated with an undergraduate art degree from UC Berkley and a master's in fine arts from Yale University.