Lou Haney — Second Street Gallery

Lounge Lizards, 2024
Acrylic on panel
60 x 40 inches

Second Street Gallery is pleased to present Leisure Suit, a solo exhibition of paintings by Charlottesville-based artist Lou Haney, to be held in the Dové Gallery from April 5 - May 24, 2024. The exhibition will open to the public on First Friday, April 5 from 5:30-7:30PM, where the artist will be present to meet and chat with visitors.

This exhibition is generously sponsored by The Galdencio-Pontillo Family, Pond Life, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Leisure Suit offers an escape into domestic nostalgia, reflecting the artist's longing for the simplicity and innocence of a perceived past. Haney's work stands as a testament to both her personal journey and a more universal condition, brilliantly exploring the ever-present tension between reality and the world we remember or obsessively dream of.

Influenced by the Pattern & Decoration Movement of the 1970s and 1980s, Haney dismantles the hierarchy of fine art over craft by blurring the boundaries between art and design with her innovative use of oil, acrylic, fiber art, and mixed media. Her artistry encompasses not only painted scenes but also physical objects, patterns, and textures reminiscent of bygone eras.

During the challenging period of global pandemic, Haney breathed life into this body of work, which she calls her “Dream Home series”, a vivid testimonial for her innate ability to transcribe emotional experiences onto canvas. Each scene is an exploration of a beautiful yet nonexistent past, symbolizing a world untouched by disease, grief, or fear.

From teaching Art History of Women to parenting a vivacious girl unafraid to love all things typically labeled 'girly', Haney brings together a confluence of experiences that honor femininity and the beauty of personal expression.

Coming full circle, Lou Haney's Leisure Suit is a journey into the past, a celebration of femininity, and an exploration of intimate domestic spaces. It is a bold proclamation of an artist confidently disrupting traditional confines, creating a world that is as stunning as it is defiantly different.

Installation imagery courtesy of Stacey Evans

Artist headshot courtesy of photographer Kristen Finn

Dinner Party, 2022
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 40 inches

Lou Haney (she/her) creates paintings of domestic spaces that employ nostalgia as a means of temporary escape from the corrupt and chaotic realities of present day life. Using oil, acrylic, fiber art, and mixed media, she explores themes of memory, yearning, and femininity to evoke tension between fantasy and reality. Inspired by the Pattern & Decoration Movement of the mid-1970s to early 1980s, Haney’s work incorporates floral imagery, pattern, and decoration, dismantling the hierarchy of fine art over craft and blurring the line between art and design.

Born in Decatur, Alabama, Haney received her Bachelor of Arts in Art with a Studio Concentration, cum laude from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, and her MFA in Painting from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. Haney has attended MacDowell as well as the Vermont Studio Center. In 2022, she was a resident at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Amherst, Virginia. Haney was the recipient of the Mississippi Art Commission Individual Artist Fellowship in 2008. Her work has been exhibited in solo shows in California, Virginia, Massachusetts, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Kentucky and in over 70 juried group exhibitions. Haney’s work was shown at the Spring/Break Art Fair in New York City in 2022 and 2023. She has solo exhibitions in 2024 at Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, VA and Spectrum Fine Arts in Seattle, WA.

Haney currently teaches Studio Art and Art History at Piedmont Virginia Community College, Sweet Briar College, and Buford Middle School. The artist lives and works in Charlottesville, Virginia.