Iris Hauser, Dress Codes, Art Gallery of Regina, Aug. 26, 2015 to Oct. 11, 2015

Iris Hauser, Dress Codes, Art Gallery of Regina, Aug. 26, 2015 to Oct. 11, 2015

By Paul Gessell

Saskatoon artist Iris Hauser has a regular stable of models she uses for figurative, narrative paintings that evoke art history, literature and fantasy. Ordinarily, Hauser chooses the models’ costumes and poses to create the right atmosphere. But she turns the tables in this exhibition of 13 dramatic oil and alkyd paintings. Here, the models chose their own apparel, pose and storyline, sometimes revealing aspects of themselves that surprised the artist.

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Photo: Zach Hauser

Iris Hauser, "The Changeling", 2012

Iris Hauser, "The Changeling", 2012, oil and alkyd on canvas, 4’3” x 3’

Take Miki, someone Hauser thought was a “closeted gay,” who usually dresses in what the artist describes as a “Mad Men retro look.” Actually, Miki is transgendered, transitioning towards womanhood. Miki makes a bold statement in The Changeling, with a lacy camisole, frilly slip, rouge, lipstick and a feminine hairstyle. Yet the bone structure and flat chest are clearly male. Miki simultaneously appears brave and vulnerable.

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Photo: Zach Hauser

Iris Hauser, "The Cabinet of Secrets", 2013

Iris Hauser, "The Cabinet of Secrets", 2013, oil and alkyd on canvas, 4’7” x 3’3”

In The Cabinet of Secrets, we see a double portrait of  “Kelly.” One Kelly is dressed in the exotic fetish gear she usually wears only in private moments. Beside her is another Kelly in her normal street clothes. Likewise, in Jen, Fierce and Frail, we see two versions of the same woman, one upright, defiant and androgynous, the other cowering on the floor like a scared puppy.

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Photo: Zach Hauser

Iris Hauser, "Jen, Fierce and Frail"

Iris Hauser, "Jen, Fierce and Frail", 2015, oil and alkyd on canvas, 4’7”x 2’7”

In the exhibition essay, David Garneau, a University of Regina fine arts professor, notes that Hauser’s paintings offer private shows made public. “She is not just making pictures but investigating the nature of private and public display; questioning the fixedness of gender and personality; and interrogating her own practice, the ethics of revealing these seeming intimacies. She is not objectively recording the world but actively participating in its creation.”

The exhibition, curated by Karen Schoonover and also showing at the Mann Art Gallery in Prince Albert, Sask., from Nov. 17 to Jan. 11, is timely. Widespread publicity surrounding Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner has turned a spotlight on issues related to the transgendered and others who do not fall into the traditional male-female binary.

Dress Codes reveals the complexities of these people. We are allowed to examine them and peer into their souls. We learn that Hauser’s models, in the end, are not all that different from other people. Yes, their costumes may be startling. But don’t we all wear costumes, whether suits, blue jeans or motorcycle leathers, to create a public persona?