Artist Wayne Hollowell Brings ‘Evil Movie Mothers’ To New ShowQueen Gallery in Provincetown
In advance of his solo show this summer, the purveyor of divas, drama, and scandal joins lineup for ShowQueens soft launch on May 15.
Featured image: Wayne Hollowell, Divine as Dawn Davenport in John Waters’ film, “Female Trouble,” 2026, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 in (courtesy of Wayne Hollowell)
ShowQueen Gallery is making its grand entrance on Friday, May 15. The “Invited Dress Rehearsal” exhibition is billed as an inaugural soft launch as the new Provincetown gallery raises the curtain on what it describes as “legendary style, unapologetic glamour, and a little Ptown camp.” Among the featured artists is Wayne Hollowell, who is bringing a delicious package of Hollywood evil-mom art to the preview ahead of his solo show, The Wicked Womb, opening August 7 at the gallery.
Inspired by Old Hollywood, Broadway, iconic divas, and classic pop art, owner and curator Tom Harvey secured the space last year in the heart of the town’s historic East End gallery district. The gallery couldn’t be a more natural fit for Wayne Hollowell, whose work is known on the Provincetown landscape. His paintings of Liza Minnelli, Patti LuPone and Barbra Streisand line the walls of Post Office Cafe and Cabaret, with a new Bea Arthur and Judy Garland soon to join at the landmark venue.
Image: Wayne Hollowell, Judy Garland, 2026, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 inches, scheduled for display at Post Office Cafe
Provincetown fixture John Waters, known for his “trash” and camp film aesthetic, also took notice of Wayne Hollowell. When Waters spotted Hollowell’s paintings of Divine at the queer-owned Club Car bar in Baltimore, he asked the owner, “Who did those?” The filmmaker had a project in mind and emailed Hollowell through his website. “I thought it was a total prank,” says Hollowell, who actually had his friend and Etsy site manager call the number on the email to make sure it was legit. Fast forward, Waters found the perfect artist to illustrate the six screenplays he rereleased last year, including Pink Flamingos, Hairspray and Female Trouble.
It was another natural fit and collaboration between kindred spirits.
“I think it’s his appreciation for over-the-top, melodramatic acting by these actresses,” Hollowell says of their compatability. “I’ve always loved big breakdown scenes like the end of Valley of the Dolls. He’s really inspired by that stuff too. We both definitely have a fascination with true crime.”
Hollowell has been inspired by John Waters and his movies since high school. “He would talk about different movies and I’d watch the movies he talked about. He talked about criminals he was fascinated with and I’d read books on them. He was an inspiration to me,” says the artist, who also spent time in film school in New York, and in earlier years, put RuPaul on celluloid back when camp was still subversive – before the drag icon shot to superstardom.
RuPaul has five “RuPaul” Hollowell pieces; Faye Dunaway has a large portrait of herself made by the artist; and Kelly Ripa has a Mommie Dearest. The artist also has a sizable following of non-celebs who commission him to make paintings from memorable moments on screen, characters that resonate, or whatever a client might like to commit to canvas.
Image: Artist Wayne Hollowell with The Birds, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches
Hollowell’s earliest influences? “Always my mom. The ladies in our church. The ladies in her beauty shop. Andy Warhol. All the TV stars of The Love Boat. The 70s and ’80s soap stars were a big influence,” he tells GO, recalling his growing up years in Rocky Mount, NC. “I remember my grandmother would never miss The Young and the Restless, so in the summertime, that was my favorite thing — to watch the soaps with my mother and my granmma.”
“I always loved TV movies especially, where actresses were given these big roles beyond their acting talent, hamming it up. Hollywood Wives — in the 80s they would have these big looks, like Jackie Collins and Judith Krantz with these huge 800-page novels you’d take to the beach — Scruples, Princess Daisy… and the epic miniseries with Elizabeth Montgomery and Lee Majors. I used to live for those.”
It’s no surprise that Hollowell caught the attention of the owner of ShowQueen with its tagline of “art, icons and applause.”
“When we first started talking, he was telling me all the things he’d like to do,” Harvey tells GO. “The show is just about the mean mothers from the movies,” Hollowell proposed. “He starts rattling off some of these names,” says Harvey. “His infectious excitement for the work that he does and the subjects — for him, it is about expressing his love for these people, mostly women… “
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“I was at a performance for Post Office Cabaret and was mesmerized by his take on these iconic divas, the funny pieces that were about film and TV and the people we gays love,” the gallery owner says. “Whether Barbra Streisand or Liza Minnelli, or whether a character from a John Waters film, Marilyn Monroe, or Alexis Carrington from Dynasty, he has a way of picking up on nuance that’s unbelievable.”
Harvey appreciates the “playful nature” of Hollowell’s work. “There’s a bit of innocence in it, but it also seems to say that there’s a secret and there’s more to the story, and if you get this, you’re in on the joke.”
Image: Tom Harvey and “Invited Dress Rehearsal” exhibition at ShowQueen Gallery, courtesy of Tom Harvey
For the preview of his show, Hollowell created four images of Mama Rose from Gypsy — very different performances from four different actresses.
At his solo exhibition at ShowQueen opening August 7, the artist has planned an entire wall dedicated to Joan Crawford’s Mommie Dearest, along with works inspired by Divine’s mother roles, Mary Tyler Moore from Ordinary People, Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate, Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate and more.
The “Invited Dress Rehearsal” exhibition on May 15 will feature the work of Alexandra Frangiosa, Wayne Hollowell, Michael Kushner, Richard Prescott, Justin “Squigs” Robertson and Brian Strumwasser. Each artist will present a ShowQueen solo exhibition at a later date.
ShowQueen Gallery is located at 432 Commercial Street, G1, in the heart of Provincetown’s historic East End Gallery District.
