AGE: 27
BASED IN: New York
Hannah Taurins has been fantasizing about weddings recently. Hers is still theoretical, but the Houston native’s upcoming show with Tureen will focus on the life cycle of a love story. Nuptial aesthetics are a natural pit stop for the artist, whose drawing and painting practice has long coaxed spiritual undertones from seemingly superficial content like magazine spreads, pop anthems, and fangirl culture at taste-making galleries like Theta and Château Shatto.
Describe one work you’ve made that captures who you are as an artist.
A painting called Spread, from my last show at Theta in New York. It’s of a woman splayed out on a shag rug, with her legs spread open. She’s only wearing a blouse, but in between her legs is a white vertical bar that censors the figure and also describes the seam of the book that the photo was in. Spread is a reference to her pose as well as a magazine spread. I made this painting quickly last year with gouache and pencil, but had been mulling over the image for some time. It’s representative of both my process—dwelling and then rapid fire—of my interest in the constructed feminine figure in relation to fashion and art history, and of the sensuality of form and material in my work.
Describe your work in three words.
Sexy, colorful, fresh.
Tell us about a teacher who changed the way you think about art.
I took Amy Sillman’s painting class at Cooper Union my last year there. She shaped the way I think about painting—about approaching them, living with them. I remember once she described her process as creating a problem to solve. This is what I think about when I need to move a work along.
Imagine someone gives you $150,000 to make anything you want—no strings.
I’m going shopping. And then making the work I make anyway. I feel very inspired by shopping—the retail experience, this totally plastic construction of value and luxury and glamor. I don’t feel restricted by money in my work at all. My compulsion is to make, but not to make the grandest work ever. Drawing as a medium is very immediate and accessible, but also relatively inexpensive to produce. The richness comes from the fount of influences, art and fashion history.
What’s an underrated studio tool you can’t live without?
An electric pencil sharpener. Saves my poor wrists.
See CULTURED‘s full 2025 Young Artists list and access other individual artist profiles here.
in your life?
