biography
KATLYN HUBNER is a visual artist, born and raised in Baltimore, and currently living in Olalla, Washington. About her process and past work, she says: “Painting has become an extremely therapeutic process for me, channeling past memories, and situations, and purging them onto the canvas. Depending on the series of work you come across that I have made are time capsules of emotions and transitions. When I first began creating, I was using my body as my medium posing for hundreds of photographers, painters, illustrators, and sculptors all across the Americas in a new city every 5 days or so. After all these collaborations I wanted to have more control over the artwork being produced and I made time to set aside to paint when I was living in Fort Lauderdale. I didn’t truly have the opportunity to focus 100% on painting till moving to Washington state.
“Currently I am all about painting skin tones, facial expressions, and trying to make my compositions come to life and perform for you. With the way my journey has been I have become completely desensitized to nudity. And it means so much to me that with my paintings if you feel anything, thats the most rewarding feeling I could have. I want to bring a moment that we can all relate when looking at the piece of art. Whether you want to admit it or not. And just to feel a little bit more human.”
Artistic Statement for “Plastic”: This series has given the ability for people all over the spectrum of art experience to feel comfortable and not threatened to explore what they see. In today’s life, violence is far more prevalent in homes than sensuality. People of all ages and backgrounds are drawn to my plastic paintings. Couples, singles, adolescents, children – you name it; they welcome the idea of this series and enjoy them in different ways and see past the nudity. We usually would interact with these dolls as innocent children. During this young chapter of our lives we have not been tainted by the world with what is right or wrong, and what should or should not be seen. Regardless of their unrealistic height and weight proportions, you cannot say they are not meant to be smaller human replications. The similarities these dolls and humans share, as far as the “female” dolls go, is that both have breasts, hips, buttocks, an hourglass shape. The differences between flesh and plastic, is that they are missing nipples, and some models of the dolls have built-in panties or leotards. The dolls in my compositions are in far more intimate situations than I would ever dare place live models, and they are embraced by the viewers with no judgement. Somehow this plastic nude form is able to transcend all the American social confinements imposed upon our bodies. With this series, I want to engage the public in hopes of changing the body freedom suppression that has happened in our culture.