SOFT ANCHOR — Dylan Rose Rheingold, Johnny Mae Hauser, Gabby Laurent, Maya Golyshkina
Soft Anchor, a group show at Homecoming Gallery, Amsterdam with Dylan Rose Rheingold, Johnny Mae Hauser, Gabby Laurent and Maya Golyshkina.
Sept 18 – Oct 25 Frederiksplein 45, Amsterdam Fridays from 3-7pm Saturdays from 12-6pm
Homecoming Gallery is delighted to present Soft Anchor, a group exhibition debuting rising artists Dylan Rose Rheingold (US), Gabby Laurent (UK), Maya Golyshkina (RU/UK) on Dutch grounds, alongside the local Amsterdam-based Johnny Mae Hauser. Soft Anchor invites viewers into dream-infused realms, where representations of the self are rendered through surrealist paintings and fine art photographs. Each artists casting a deeply personal and intimate gaze on themes like feminitity, identity and the domestic – collectively creating a poetic exploration of the inner world.
“In dialogue with these artists, we observed a recurring theme: women, often acting as anchors within their circles, turn to introspection in moments of turbulence or uncertainty in order to find resilience and renewal. The works selected for Soft Anchor carry an intriguing duality and strength that these exceptional artists share; uncanny and gloomy at times, yet humorous and soft in equal measure.”
Dylan Rose Rheingold (US) is a painter whose practice blends surrealism with abstract figuration, drawing on themes of girlhood, identity, and cultural hybridity. Working in layered media, she creates luminous, textured dreamscapes that blur the boundaries between reminiscence and the subconscious, where personal histories and collective impressions converge in painterly form. Her use of radiant color and fluid mark-making imbues the compositions with a sense of shifting temporality- images appear to emerge and dissolve simultaneously, mirroring the instability of identity and the fragility of remembrance. Within these spaces, figures often occupy states of transformation, embodying the complexities of belonging, becoming, and self-invention. Rheingold is born and based in New York City and holds a MFA from The School of Visual Arts and a BFA from Syracuse University. Her work has been exhibited internationally, with solo presentations at T293, Rome and M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, alongside group exhibitions in New York, London, Copenhagen, Berlin, and Hangzhou.
Gabby Laurent (UK) investigates the tension between the safe and domestic and the dangerous and vulnerable. Often using herself as the subject, Laurent’s practice sits at the junction of photography and performance, drawing inspiration from feminist and performance art history. Presented in this exhibition is her leading work from the Wearables series (2022), in which she uses handmade garments of domestic materials to blur the lines between comfort and restriction. Laurent explains: “I wanted to feel powerful and dominant. But there are also the connotations of the domestic. It is soft and domestic in the materials used, but confrontational in assembly and posture.” Her Overkill series (2024) explores societal pressures and expectations placed on women, highlighting the conflict between imposed roles and personal agency. Both Wearables and Overkill were recently presented at the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung Museum, Munich, and are now debuting on Dutch grounds. Laurent has held solo exhibitions at Flowers Gallery, London, and Webber Gallery, London, and has exhibited internationally. Her debut monograph, Falling (2021), was published by Loose Joints.
Maya Golyshkina (RU/UK) is a London-based multimedia artist working in self-portraiture, performance, and sculpture. Guided by the idea that “the best way to get rid of pain is to laugh at it,” Golyshkina creates fantastical and dissonant self-portraits in which she embodies anthropomorphic versions of everyday objects -ranging from a tube of toothpaste to a fried egg or an ear- blurring the line between object and self. Following in the lineage of Claude Cahun, Cindy Sherman, and Gillian Wearing, she uses her body to challenge stereotypes and interrogate identity in a social media-driven, image-obsessed world. Her handcrafted, deliberately imperfect aesthetic, combined with traces of digital manipulation, rejects polish in favor of authenticity and surreal wit. Golyshkina has collaborated with Marc Jacobs, Balenciaga, and Maison Margiela, presented solo exhibitions at Seventeen Gallery, London, and is currently in a duo show with Martin Parr at Nicola von Zenger Gallery, Zurich. A first edition of her work Sad Clown, included in Soft Anchor, is part of the Masi Lugano museum collection.
Johnny Mae Hauser (NL) is a Dutch-German artist whose practice pushes the boundaries of photography, exploring the medium’s imaginative potential through her distinctive abstract compositions and poignant palettes. Each work emerges as an expression of the evolution of emotional memory, foregrounding themes of introspection, isolation, and emotional intimacy. Her compositions establish a subtle dialogue between the inner world of the artist and that of the viewer- inviting reflection without imposition. In doing so, Hauser challenges conventional modes of seeing, shifting the focus from mere visual perception to the felt experience of encountering the work. The title of her ongoing series, Bildnis- which also encompasses the new works on view -reflects both Hauser’s painterly approach and the singularity of her practice, with each photograph printed only once as a unique work. Hauser’s work is held in leading private collections and has been exhibited internationally across London, Taipei, Tokyo, Mexico, and the Netherlands.
