Peregrine Honig Issue #26

The artist and gallery owner shares her thoughts on language, sexuality, and curatorial decision-making

By Marcus Cain
Published: December 1st, 2005 | 12:00am

Peregrine Honig has managed to craft an existence that is wholly creative and self-sustaining, whether she’s hosting an exhibition of national graffiti artists at her Kansas City-based Fahrenheit Gallery, attending industry fairs for her Birdies underwear boutique, or creating her own artwork for simultaneous exhibitions.

Raised in San Francisco, the 29-year-old artist, curator, and gallery owner now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she attended the Kansas City Art Institute. Honig’s career was launched in 1999 when Landfall Press produced a suite of her prints, Ovubet (26 Girls with Sweet Centers), which were purchased by the Whitney Museum, making Honig the youngest living artist to be included in that collection.

Six years later, she remains prolific and well-represented in exhibitions and collections throughout the country and abroad. Honig’s latest solo exhibition, Albocracy, at JET Artworks in Washington D.C., opened in October 2005.

In a lot of ways, your work begins with the Ovubet series. What initial influences shaped this work?
My work is very much influenced by language. Ovubet is a series that is based on transitions within the history of language and the idea of illustrating words and situations.
Your subjects focus on young women in situations that address issues of identity, transformation, sexuality, and self-empowerment, often with a political edge.
Yes, definitely. I feel like a sociologist sometimes. My work is more about the politics of class and gender than anything else. I create and maintain characters in the same way a writer might, as manifestations of certain social or political points of view. I’m interested in addressing these as adult or human experiences that, for me, establish a more personal perspective.
Where does this put your audience, and what sort of feedback do you get from them?
There isn’t a lot of compassionate work being made about young women. It’s interesting how an early or sheltered sexuality — or a very innocent kind of awkwardness — becomes its own sexuality and informs how we develop as humans, both male and female. It is also interesting how an audience can become your influence, muse, and inspiration. That’s my audience … an audience who inspires me.
You also have different audiences as an artist, writer, and curator.
As a curator, I definitely think it is a different audience who comes to the Fahrenheit than who would come to see my work. I don’t [show my work in my gallery], which is funny because when I opened, people assumed that I would. They would ask, “So when is your next big show? Is it going to be at the Fahrenheit?” I’ve been showing other artists’ work for almost nine years, so I think I’ve finally answered that question for most people. I do get inspired and influenced by the artists I show. I can certainly relate to where they are coming from.