Gaa is delighted to present Tricksters II, a solo exhibition of work by the Los Angeles-born, London-based artist, Katja Farin. The oil paintings and ceramic sculptures in Tricksters II expand upon pertinent ideas and concepts explored by Farin – principally, the archetype of the ‘trickster’ as a transient figure able to slide, shift, and slip between the thresholds of metaphorical worlds. Tricksters II represents Farin’s second exhibition with Gaa, and their first solo presentation in Germany.

Referenced both contemporarily and historically as a harbinger of transition and change, the trickster enacts a plethora of roles across different cultural, political, societal, and religious structures. An active participant across many of Farin’s compositions, this enigmatic figure encourages and instigates unexpected vicissitudes of existence. Surreptitiously descending the spiral staircase, moving sneakily from one space to another in Spiraling Out, the trickster seems to both tantalize and taunt. Additional reference to Hans Holbein the Younger’s 1533 Tudor painting The Ambassadors underscores Farin’s contemplation of the transition from physical to metaphysical (and back again) – warped perspectives, exaggerated proportions, and distorted visages hint at the ways in which such transformations might delicately dangle death in the face of the viewer while simultaneously offering oblique opportunity for renewal or restoration.

While lauded as a provocateur, the trickster also embodies the role of quiet observer in Farin’s conceptual narratives. Looming, monitoring, inspecting, and examining, the figures contained within the upper register of Over the Wall illustrate Farin’s exploration of judgment, scrutiny, and the inquiry of the uninvited gaze. Through such visual navigation of figurative space, Farin traverses the experiences associated with the feeling of being physically observed or watched, as well as the subsequent reaction to such a purposeful invasion or personal, or private, space.

Shifting further to employ the guise of orphic luminary in works such as The Crows Watch, the trickster’s presence remains leading, yet ambiguous. Magnified and extended outside of the picture plane, body parts form a nebulous directional sign post, pointing towards some distant future or vague potentiality. Such pathways are further illuminated by Farin’s ceramic lamps, which offer enlightenment or guidance along this transient pathway of metamorphosis.

Through this perpetual blurring of boundaries between seen and unseen, sacred and absurd, Farin invites the viewer to inhabit this liminal space where transformation becomes possible and meaning remains mercurial. Conjuring the trickster as both a guide and a mirage, Farin imbues this figure with the capacity to destabilize and reconfigure the familiar, revealing how change might serve as a catalyst for renewal, curiosity, and self-reflection.

Katja Farin (b. 1996, Los Angeles, CA) explores and depicts interactions between the subconscious and reality. Their works create dream spaces that allow the viewer to peek into the interior worlds of the figures, their relationships with the self and others. Bright colors, glowing hands and distorted bodies create the hypnotic, dysphoric space that these androgynous figures embody. Farin received a BA in Fine Art from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2018 and is a candidate for an MFA degree from the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Selected solo exhibitions have been held at Gaa, New York; Friends Indeed, San Francisco; Era Gallery, Milan; Lubov, New York; and in lieu, Los Angeles. Their art has been included in group exhibitions at Pace Gallery, Hong Kong; Alexander Berggruen, New York; Beers, London; Wilding Cran, Los Angeles; and Nicodim, Los Angeles. The artist lives and works in London, UK.