Artist Cj Hendry has amassed a loyal audience of 853,000 Instagram followers (and climbing) and a waitlist of more than 3,000 collectors. The subjects of her large-scale, hyper-photorealistic drawings span florals and glossy paint smudges to well-loved stuffed animals and a crinkled Have a Nice Day plastic bag.
A 164-foot-long inflatable pool was installed in the Nevada desert for Public Pool
For the past six years, Hendry has translated her work into fun, interactive exhibitions that are here today, gone a few days later. The first was Monochrome, a house built within a Brooklyn, New York warehouse (where her studio is now located) comprising seven rooms clad floor-to-ceiling in one color. “Drawings have increasingly felt a little bit suffocating,” Hendry says. “My frustration started to build, and I didn’t want to limit [my art] to a wall.”
This year, Hendry presented Public Pool in Sandy Valley Ranch, Nevada; followed by Flower Market, a collaboration with beauty brand Clé de Peau Beauté, on New York’s Roosevelt Island; and Bargain Bodega, which just concluded in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Here, we catch up with the Australian native to learn more about creating hospitable art experiences.
How did you get your start?
Cj Hendry: As a kid, I wasn’t particularly artsy at school. I went to do architecture at university, and I was hopeless at that. Then I went into finance, of all things, and I was even more hopeless at that. Through a series of events, I realized I was not built for university.
I was not up to much, failing at university, working in a bar, and the only thing I enjoyed was drawing. I was okay at it, not great, but I liked how it made me feel. So I decided to give drawing a real try, and I drew solidly for a year.
How did your career evolve from there?
CH: Instagram and social media were starting, and I was an early adopter. I did drawings with black and white ink and put them on social media with no intention of anything. Someone wanted to buy something, and it started to morph a little bit.
There’s so many ins and outs of where I am now. It’s been a very consistent, focused 10 years of work. There hasn’t been one inch of time where I’ve taken off and done other things. Someone might look at my position and say ‘wow,’ but it’s taken a long time—a lot of people second guessing and doubting, and the art world being like, ‘Who’s this bit of hocus pocus on social media?’
I’ve kept going, and I’ve reinvested everything I’ve ever made back in. It’s a constant snowball, and as we go on every year, the snowball gets bigger.
A dozen original drawings were showcased as part of the Flower Market public exhibition in September 2024
Is there a project you’re most proud of?
CH: It’s like a favorite child, I can’t pick. They each presented their own set of challenges. Every time we do something, I get better and better at articulating what it is that wasn’t quite right and what could have been better. Some are more successful, but that doesn’t mean that I enjoyed it more or the concept was better.
Each exhibition concept is so different.
CH: They are, and I make sure that’s the point. Not that it’s a comparison to other artists, but I get frustrated when I see someone who does something well and they do that all the time. It’s like a one-hit wonder, and that’s not creative or interesting. For me, when something works, great, fantastic, move on, do other things. If we never revisit a concept, even if it was great, that’s okay. There are so many other things we can build and do.
Is there one you would like to go back and revisit?
CH: I’d like to go back and revisit everything, but that’s the beauty of it. My audience knows that it is a period of time and you’ll never see it again. It was a beautiful moment in time—that’s what I’m building. I enjoy creating so much, I don’t want to hang my hat on one idea.
Monochrome took place in an industrial space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 2018
Your exhibitions are only a few days long. Why is that?
CH: We’re in a cycle today where you only have 24 to 48 hours to get people’s attention. Museums will do three-month exhibitions. That program maybe still works for them, but if they did more dynamic, fast-paced programming, there might be more people who attended those types of institutions. I don’t think multiple month or yearlong programming is relevant anymore.
Why do you like hosting these free, public experiences of your work?
CH: I enjoy creating, but my drawings take so long to make and that frustrates me equally. It’s so dependent on someone’s bank account. That’s not fair, and it limits the people who are able to enjoy what I do. For example, for Epilogue, we renovated a church in London with petals falling from the ceiling. That was a free event. I like creating something people can feel and do without dollars being attached to it.
What keeps you going?
CH: I do believe in a bit of magic. Sometimes you put [something] out into the world, and you don’t know how it’s going to be received. It’s such an arbitrary way to do things. The thing I believe in, first and foremost, is build the thing, make it as great as you can, and it’s either going to work or it’s not. There’s nothing you can do about that.
Flower Market in New York’s Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park
What can you tell us about Bargain Bodega, which just ended?
CH: Bargain Bodega was so much fun to build. The idea was a play on the iconic New York City bodega (one of my favorite things ever), but if it were dipped in sequins. We have sequins coming out of our ears, but the payoff was worth it.
What are you working on next?
CH: Circus will happen in April. When we do the big-scale exhibitions, which we can do twice a year, it takes a lot of energy and a lot more financial investment as well. It’s not always about that, but that’s the reality.
We’re aiming for Los Angeles [for this one]. We haven’t done anything in LA, and that’s been a goal for a while. So we have time to find the right space. We just need to flush out the idea a bit more.
Photos by Andy Romer and courtesy of Cj Hendry Studio
@hospitalitydesign “I hope Flower Market inspires joy and beauty well after the greenhouse is empty, every time we see flowers—plush or otherwise.” –@Cj_Hendry 🌷 The artist’s latest immersive exhibition, a partnership with @cledepeaubeaute, opens to the public today! 📍: Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park, Roosevelt Island, New York #artexhibition #artinspiration #rooseveltisland #fyp ♬ original sound – hospitalitydesign
