Rachel Lee Hovnanian
Rachel Lee Hovnanian is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores themes of technology, beauty, social conditioning, and contemporary isolation. Working across painting, sculpture, immersive installation, and new media, Hovnanian investigates the intersections of narcissism, consumerism, and digital culture, often questioning the ways in which technology alters human relationships, intimacy, and self-perception.
Hovnanian earned her BFA from the University of Texas at Austin and pursued postgraduate studies at Parsons School of Design in New York. Her work has been exhibited in prominent museums and institutions worldwide, including the Venice Biennale (Collateral Event, 2022), The Medici Palace Museum (Seravezza, Italy), Church of Santa Maria della Spina (Pisa), and the Guggenheim Museum (New York). Recent solo exhibitions include ‘You Are Not Alone, Angels Listening’ at Chiesa e Chiostro di Sant’ Agostino in Pietrasanta (2024) and ‘Beyond the Hedges’ at County Gallery in Palm Beach (2024).
Her acclaimed Women’s Trilogy Project (2018), a three-part exhibition at Leila Heller Gallery, New York, tackled themes of addiction, gender roles, and contemporary beauty standards, with immersive installations such as the ‘NDD Immersion Room’, which simulated the effects of digital overstimulation. Her large-scale public installations, such as ‘Perfect Baby Showroom’ at the Dallas Art Fair (2016), have further cemented her reputation as an artist whose work critiques societal ideals and the commodification of human experience.
Hovnanian’s work is included in numerous prestigious private and institutional collections, such as 21c Museum Hotels, The Multimedia Art Museum (Moscow), The Mallin Collection, and the Rubell Museum, as well as the personal collections of Aby Rosen, Aggie Gund, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Peter Marino, and the Royal Family of Dubai. She has also collaborated with EDITION Hotels (2021) and participated in major group exhibitions at The Bunker Artspace, Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, 21c Museum (Chicago), Palazzo Ducale (Genoa), and the Nassau County Museum of Art.
With a practice that continuously evolves, Rachel Lee Hovnanian remains at the forefront of contemporary discourse, creating work that provokes reflection on the human condition in the digital age while offering a deeply personal and universal critique of modern existence.
Rachel Lee Hovnanian
Blue Fern Robe, 2023
Ink and acrylic on canvas
51 1/2 x 39 1/2 x 2 3/4 in (130.8 x 100.3 x 7 cm) Framed
Rachel Lee Hovnanian
White Narcissus Panel Carlos, 2024
Porcelain, waxed cotton, linen, in artist's frame
40 x 40 x 3 in (101.6 x 101.6 x 7.6 cm)