Palpable Sensuality in “Lick Lick in Brown and Green” by Loie Hollowell
Written by Nínive Vargas de la Peña for Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated. March 2022.
So I could describe this... lick-lick painting as silhouettes radiating outward with each silhouette defining the reverse of another, and expanding into infinity
LOIE HOLLOWELL
In Lick, Lick, in Brown and Green, a single multi-layered circle is surrounded by two profiles in action as each oscillates their tongues in a movement that can only be described as playfully suggestive. Their reiteration, aided by their alternating movements, confers them a pulsating vibrancy.

Loie Hollowell. Lick Lick in Brown and Green (2016). Private Collection.
However, as is common in her creations, the focal point appears to be in the experience of light exuded by the mystical geometry at its core. The emanating light structurally modifies every element in the canvas, starting by forcing a symmetrical illusion through its central division. The light arising modifies the gradient tonality of the bodies, illuminating them from behind and within, while encapsulating them in a final radiant halo. The ambivalent treatment of the figures' curved lines and human forms act as evocative of light’s true nature as composed of both solid particles and waves. This transcendent experience consolidates into an aesthetic proposal reminiscent of Hilma af Klint’s sacred compositions.
Exuding a shared sensuality through the exploration of themes composed of an acute intimacy, Loie Hollowell displays a masterful use of an esoteric vocabulary that withholds an ambition for universality. Working with geometrical abstraction, while referencing figuration of the human body, Hollowell concedes an ethereal grandeur to the experience of the flesh and intimacy. Inspired in the exploration of light’s behavior, Hollowell unchains a series of elements that tend to reiterate themselves throughout the canvas, overflowing into the world. As throwing a stone in a puddle, or unleashing a pendulum, the bodies on her work appear solid and yet, the force they exude inhabits the canvas while showering the onlookers with an undulating nature.
Painter of sublimed erotism
Loie Hollowell depictions of this carnal mysticism has led her to exhibit in major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and London, being part of major permanent collections such as the Hirshhorn Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Miami. You can follow her in her Instagram and acquire her work at Pace Gallery.