Hooley McLaughlin: The Amorality of Beauty™

The male gaze at the interface of female strength, power, and agency

Hooley McLaughlin, Nicole Diver’s Riviera, 2026, mixed media print on canvas, 35 x 60 inches. Photo: H. McLaughlin.

October 28 – November 2, 2026
Akin Remote Gallery, Toronto

Evening Opening Reception: October 29, 6–9pm
Daytime Opening Reception: October 31, 12–4pm
Open Discussion Session: November 1, 2–4pm
Programme for Blind & Low Vision Visitors: October 30, 7–8pm
Reserve free tickets for events

Beauty is an elusive concept. It depends less on its creation than on its apprehension. The hearts and minds of viewers know when a work feels beautiful, fulfilling, and enticing. That sensation is not infrequently erotic. It bears no necessary allegiance to morality, reverence, or social acceptability.

The Amorality of Beauty™ consists of drawings, paintings, and mixed-media works that explore the interface between the male gaze and the strength, power, and agency of the female subject. Developed through collaboration between the male artist and the female model, the outcome is always uncertain: fragile, sometimes beautiful, and ultimately disturbing. The work asks whether communication—between male and female, artist and model, artwork and viewer, and across cultures—is ever fully possible.

The central theme is the Virgin Mary in her many guises. She is presented not as a passive emblem of purity, but as a figure of agency and choice, negotiating her power within patriarchal worlds. The erotic treatment removes any easy possibility of assimilation, piety, or casual reverence. Viewers are left to decide whether they are stimulated, attracted, unsettled, or repulsed.

Hooley McLaughlin, The Ecstasy of the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni Redux #5 after Bernini (detail), 2012, archival ink on paper print made from original charcoal on paper drawing, 29 x 22 inches. Photo: Dimitri Levanoff.

Over 25 works are presented in the exhibition. Art pieces are accompanied by physical books of 20th century literature and liturgical discussions that informed the theme of the art pieces during their creation. Techniques include charcoal drawings rendered as archival prints on paper in the original size, acrylic paintings on paper, mixed media prints derived from layers of collaged paintings, stencils, and photographs processed through Photoshop using only density changes and standard techniques in common with traditional photographic techniques such as burning and lighting shifts. No AI treatments were used in the production of the artwork. All works were based on live model sessions, with post-studio treatments such as painting, collaging, and printing. Collaging was done physically in the studio, while digital aspects of the work were limited to layering of drawings, paintings, and photographs of the stencils. Printing was done by Image Foundry, Toronto. Framing primarily was done with Frame it on Bloor Toronto, with some works framed by Soho Printing Toronto.

About the Artist

Hooley McLaughlin in an artist working in Toronto. This is McLaughlin’s first solo exhibition in nine years. During that hiatus he has devoted his time to creating works based on religious iconography and storytelling. McLaughlin is also known as a museum professional and teacher, and is currently Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto.

Instagram @hooleymclaughlin

Hooley McLaughlin, Sisters at Play, Ezekiel 23 (detail), 2016, acrylic on paper, 40 x 29 inches. Photo: H. McLaughlin.

About Akin Collective

Akin Collective is a Toronto-based, artist-led arts organization that provides affordable creative studio spaces and community programming across multiple locations in the city. As an extension of this supportive creative network, Remote Gallery is Akin’s dedicated street-level exhibition and multi-use venue located at 568 Richmond Street West.

Akin Remote Gallery
568 Richmond Street West
Toronto, ON M5V 1Y9
akincollective.com
info@akincollective.com
Instagram @akinprojects

Reserve free tickets to all events and view complete Gallery Hours at the exhibition’s Ticket Tailor site.

Accessibility:
Akin Remote Gallery is street level accessible with no stairs. It has gender-neutral washrooms with no stairs. Doorways are wide. For more information, visit www.akincollective.com/remoteaccessibility

Image Descriptions:
1. At first glance, this five-foot-wide canvas print fills your eyes with hot red and yellow colours, contrasted with sea-foam green, sky blue, and black. The surface is broken into blocks that appear to have been reassembled to form the image of a reclining woman with a blissful backward-looking demeanor. The overall feeling is passionate but chaotic.
2. The charcoal drawing of a woman with an inward-looking expression appears to have been drawn using fast applications of wide black markings followed by areas that appear to be rubbed out or smudged. The figure of a woman is revealed through the twisted distortions of the anatomy, giving at once a peaceful and a dangerous sensation to the viewer.
3. Two faces of young women appear from rough outlines and scattered applications of acrylic paint. One figure is dark and almost menacing, while the other, a paler figure, seems to be twisted back in an attitude of submission and ecstasy. Purple, mauve, red, pale yellows, and green are juxtaposed to complete an image that is both completely composed and yet disjointed at the same time.