Khae Haskell

MFA ’20 Fine Arts Low-Residency

My making begins with a natural treasure hunt of the world around me.  I often become a watcher, an observer, sometimes feeling like a voyeuristic outsider searching for the inspiration that presents itself throughout my path of travel.  My inspiration often navigates throughout the unwanted elements of nature while making brief visits within the desired ones.  I am in awe of the things you don’t want to see as well as the items that are considered attractive.  Imagery of decomposing animal flesh, rotting vegetation, blossoming botanicals, textures on tree bark and oyster shells; these are some of the components that prompt my visual language. I receive these optical specimens and transform them in a manner that is slightly tolerable to experience, almost to the point of gratification.  The transformation typically begins with delicately rendered pen and ink graphic drawings on paper and translucent media.   The drawings are produced with elegance which in turn allows them to live on the aesthetic plane.  Some of my studies are broken down into abstracted versions executed through site specific installations and collages. 

These works exist as two series that connect; Decomposed and Flourished, both series are observations of the various stages and occurrences of natural life rendered through many variations of the act of drawing.



Khae Haskell is a mixed-media artist based in Brooklyn, NY.  They received their MFA at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and their BA at Marymount Manhattan College.  Haskell attended residencies at ChaNorth Artist Residency and Vermont Studio Center. They were recently awarded the Young Talent Award by the Affordable Art Fair and Arts Gowanus where they executed a site-specific installation during the Affordable Art Fair in New York in March 2023.

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