→ Men In My Life, 2025

Installation
oil paintings, TL lights, carpet, wood, metal, colourcards, magazine, toy fire extinguisher, fire extinguisher sticker
Exhibited at I forgot how I got here, Springshow, Flora, Den Haag, NL
Visitors enter a space that feels like a corner of an IKEA showroom: bold letters spelling out “Mix & Match,”, colour swatches hanging neatly on the wall, a product catalogue, five paintings sliding along a movable rack.
Each painting captures a memory of a different man who played a significant role in the artist’s life, arranged in chronological order. Starting from Kuhn’s father to her third romantic relationship. These memories are deeply personal, yet presented in a format stripped of intimacy, inviting viewers to treat them like decor.

Viewers get the opportunity to select colour swatches and match the paintings to tones that suit their home interiors. This interactive gesture serves as a critique of the commodified relationship to art. An approach that often overlooks the narratives embedded in a work of art. “As long as it matches the colour of the sofa” is common phrase that reduces memory into aesthetic utility.

The installation highlights the disconnect between the emotional labor of remembering and the detached ways art is consumed. While the artist revisits painful experiences, an abusive upbringing, complicated relationships with men, the work purposefully risks being read as a showroom display.

The product catalogue offers deeper insight into the process and the thoughts behind each painting, which itself becomes a metaphorical barrier, only those genuinely curious and attentive will access the deeper emotional layers of the works and begin to know more about the artist behind the works.

jessica kuhn

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