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Artist to Watch: Meghann Stephenson Explores Femininity, Self-Destruction, and Perfectionism in Latest Series

The emerging creative’s latest works are on view beginning September 9 at Half Gallery in New York

By Jacoba Urist
Person seated beside a large painting of a swan, with art supplies and brushes in the background.
Artist Meghann Stephenson with Swan Dive (2024) in her Los Angeles studio. Photo: BONO MELENDREZ

The latest works by Meghann Stephenson depict gossamer women against mostly pitch-black fields, probing femininity and self-destructive perfectionism. “It feels like a heavy subject matter,” says the Los Angeles artist of her current series. Fortunately, she adds, the grouping’s title, “Queen of the Neighborhood!”—taken from the Bikini Kill feminist-punk anthem “Rebel Girl”—injects the right dose of lightheartedness.

“The first time the lyric appears in the song, it feels like it’s a setup for an insult,” she explains of the inspiration. “But then you find out it’s such a compliment. I was thinking, ‘What would the queen of hell be if hell were a neighborhood?’” To that end, the show contains an oil canvas for each of the nine circles in Dante’s Inferno, with the set alluding to each sin as viewed through the female gaze; violence and vanity take on a quiet eeriness.

A person in a light dress stands inside a small white picket fence against a dark background with scattered flowers.
Are You Looking Up? (2026) from the artist’s “Queen of the Neighborhood!” show. Photo: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Woman's face partially obscured by fluffy white clouds against a dark background.
Meghann Stephenson Feels Like Drowning. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Painting of a single white tulip with drooping petals and leaves against a dark background.
Meghann Stephenson Being a Saint Is Exhausting. Photo: Courtesy of the artist

The works, which comprise a show on view from September 9 to October 8 at Half Gallery in New York, follow the lineage of Anna Weyant and Alex Katz, albeit with signature surrealism. In Feels Like Drowning, the protagonist is calmly swallowed by a cloud; in The Mastermind, five uncannily similar girls form a coven-esque circle. “Or are they just chatting? What makes us go there?” asks Stephenson of the sinister assumption. “The works have a jarring perfection. The play between natural and unnatural is a big source of inspiration here.”

Painting of five women in white dresses with short brown hair, standing in a circle, viewed from various angles.
The Mastermind (2026). Photo: Courtesy of the Artist

That knife’s edge between real and artificial nods to the artist’s adolescence in a Virginia suburb. In one scene, the grass is unkempt; in another, it’s manicured, with a woman trapped by a white picket fence. Her subjects all wear filmy, timeless nightgowns to create an immediate sense of vulnerability. “I was envisioning a kind of dreamscape or nightmare where the figures exist in these very undefined spaces,” explains Stephenson.

Painting of a sliced apple on a black tray with abstract geometric black and beige background.
Meghann Stephenson To the Core. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
A woman in a white dress sitting on a soft fabric, holding a delicate necklace, with a serene expression.
Meghann Stephenson Girl’s Best Friend. Photo: Courtesy of the artist

Meticulous as her tableaux are, she appreciates accidents during her process. “You can’t really anticipate how a finger will fold over or the shadow of a hand will fall on a cheek,” she muses. “You have to let go a little bit and let things unfold naturally. That’s where the magic happens.”

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2026 Fall Issue in the section “Artists to Watch.” Subscribe to the magazine.

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