Brooklyn based hyper-realistic artist, Cj Hendry’s eighth solo show, Blonde has just opened for this weekend only!

This immersive exhibition features Hendry’s large-scale, meticulous pencil drawings of multicolored wigs in a two-part presentation format at Brookfield Place in New York from December 10- 12.

Hinged on Hendry’s fascination with the transformative nature of wigs, Blonde sets out to articulate the intricacies of the physical and emotional relationship between a wig and its wearer, whether it be necessity, adornment, costume, or armour.

“Blonde is an exploration of wigs as visual language—self-expression, actualization, or façade. There is an undeniable interwovenness between identity, ego and appearance, which is never fixed!” Hendry says. “Wigs, in their transformational impermanence support this fluidity, and the duality between one’s inner and outward self, and how we choose to show up in the world, in varying contexts and iterations. There isn’t another physical object I have drawn, that has the same physical and emotional transformational power.”

The show itself, initiates in a pop-up chocolate shop, stocked with custom Blonde x Tony's Chocolonely’s chocolate bars

Blonde further extends Hendry’s signature of colliding mediums, leading guests through a speakeasy secret door to reveal a retro-kitsch barber shop, where visitors are encouraged to don one of the 5000 wigs in 200 styles—a take home, keepsake. By donning wigs, guests will undergo their own metamorphose, as they contemplate the deeper meaning behind the art works.

The exhibition is free to the public and 100% of Blonde x Tony's Chocolonely’s sales will be donated to the Ali Forney Center, an organization that supports LGBTQ+ youth in NYC

CJ Hendry (b. 1988) is a New York-based artist originally from Brisbane, Australia. Hendry transforms her fascination with contemporary material culture into large-scale, hyper-photorealistic drawings. Cj Hendry’s exhibits aren’t intended to be passively observed but, rather, actively experienced through engaging, fun, and thought-provoking exhibits.

All images courtesy of the artist.