Painter Loie Hollowell, who is launching an NFT series to support abortion funds, discusses politics, motherhood and her market

“Motherhood never leaves you,” says artist Loie Hollowell from her studio in Brooklyn. “The memory of giving birth goes deep into the cellular structure of your body. I will always process that.” She speaks ahead of the launch of Contractions, her first NFT series, which consists of 280 generative digital works and a limited number of physical paintings. It drops today (October 28) on the sales platform Art Blocks in collaboration with Pace Verso, the web3 arm of Pace gallery, which has represented the artist since 2017.

The series is one of many by Hollowell based on female bodily processes – in this case, the experience of giving birth to her daughter, Juniper, in April 2020. The works feature a series of spheres representing different parts of her body, such as her head and vagina during childbirth; some of these spheres are depicted with their centers open to varying degrees, relating to the ten stages of cervical dilation required to initiate the “pushing” stage of labor. Halving lines of black and white mark the “intense pain and then silence” that occurs during and between contractions, she says. Hollowell renders all of this in her signature style – luminous geometric compositions reminiscent of neo-tantric paintings and constructions of light and space – that have catapulted her to world fame in art in recent years.

Hollowell, who remains “somewhat skeptical” of NFTs, was approached by Art Blocks to create this series around the same time this year that the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Art Blocks encourages artists to donate 25% of profits above the resting price to a charity—for Hollowell, the timing helped overcome her hesitation and made her choice clear. She will donate a quarter of the sales proceeds to two American non-profit organizations: the Midwest Access Coalitiona practical abortion fund based in the Midwest and ARC-Southeastwhich provides funding and logistical support to people seeking reproductive care, including abortion services, in six southern states.

That the artist would take such direct action in matters of reproductive rights will come as no surprise to those familiar with her practice. Several early works by Hollowell are “essentially biographical paintings” of an abortion she had when she was 28, exploring the tumult, freedom and other complicated emotions she experienced at the time. “The whole direction of my work for the last six years all comes from the fact that I’ve had an abortion,” she says.

Nevertheless, early in her career she was encouraged by gallerists and advisers not to mention abortion for fear of alienating collectors, and instead to focus on the “more abstract elements” in the work. It was only after a few years that she felt comfortable discussing “the conceptual thesis” behind them. Since then, she has spoken about it “to whoever will listen”, but says her words are still “largely whitewashed”.

Speaking of control and autonomy, Hollowell notes that the NFT series will also allow her to take back some control over the growing secondary market. At auction, her paintings now regularly eclipse their six-figure estimates to sell for over $1 million. Her highest price is $2.1 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2021 for a sculptural painting – eight of her ten highest auction prices have been made in Hong Kong.

“I’ve been very frustrated to see my work go up on the secondary market,” says Hollowell. “It feels like a little thrill every time, especially since I’ve met so many of these collectors. So the resale rights built into the NFT smart contract are a big bonus.” Smart contracts will also help her keep track of where the work goes once it’s sold, something she said she was bad at before signing with Pace. This proved a problem when she attempted to source a number of her earliest works for her first institutional solo exhibition, currently on view at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at the University of California, Davis until May 8, 2023.

The NFTs will be offered for 5ETH (around $1,555) each via a Dutch auction process, meaning the starting price is reduced until a buyer is found. A number of paintings from the series will also be on Pace’s stand at the WestBund art fair in Shanghai next month, and each is being offered for $10,000.

Despite her denunciation of certain market forces, Hollowell expresses deep gratitude for the support a large gallery that Pace has given her, especially in relation to her own reproductive choices. “I waited until I had a safe gallery to have children,” says Hollowell, joking that her last pregnancy, at age 37, was “basically a geriatric one”.

Her husband has for several years now taken on the role of primary carer. As a result, Hollowell says, she has faced an easier time managing childcare and a career than some of her friends “who have had to sacrifice a lot of time in their studio”. She also notes that this issue is highly gendered: “I have a lot of female friends who are successful who don’t have kids, and a lot of male artists who are successful who have kids—I didn’t see the same stressors in their careers as their female counterparts.”

But even with help, she says there’s still an important conversation to be had, at least in the West, about the pressure mothers face to rush back to work after having a baby. “Even with the security of Pace, I still felt pressured to produce. Just a month after giving birth, I was back at work for an upcoming solo show.”

These conversations, she says, are just as important when discussing reproductive rights, and she hopes her work will stimulate a wide range of conversations. “Roe v. Wade is not just about abortion”, she emphasizes. “It is equally important to talk about women who want to give birth but lack access to solid care, or need financial help once they have had a child.”

Hollowell cites a number of factors that make raising children in the U.S. a hostile proposition, from a lack of comparable wages between men and women to paltry childcare compensation. These challenges, she says, are discussed among women and their communities, but are not a priority for politicians. More locally, she points out that until recently New York City did not offer preschool classes in public schools.

“This conversation needs to include all types of birthing and non-birthing bodies,” she says. “Care needs to be framed as something more holistic if we’re ever going to win this battle.”