Hilary Harkness’s most recent show at the Mary Boone Gallery depicted, in six paintings, the relationship between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. In her three solo shows leading up to this one, Harkness’s paintings were marked by World War II battleships populated by dozens of meticulously painted women—sometimes naked—interacting with each other in sometimes-lewd, often-complex ways. She has taught at the Yale Summer School of Art and Music, and blogs about art-making for the New York Academy of Art. Her work has been exhibited worldwide.

—Sheila Heti

THE BELIEVER: Tell me a bit about Alice at Loggerheads.

HILARY HARKNESS: Well, Alice is sitting at a table; the shells are placed upside down, and one is being used as an ashtray, symbolizing her relationship to her fertility. There’s a Picasso portrait of Stein kind of looming behind Alice that’s meant to look like a shroud, because you can only see the outline of Gertrude. I think Alice was a tremendously talented person who used her talents to aid Gertrude; she lived in support of her and she was kind of laughed at by history.

BLVR: Have you painted historical figures before?

HH: I started out painting cross-sections of buildings and battleships. This is my first attempt at portraiture. I’m kind of known for paintings with lots of small figures in them, so my goal was to paint more medium-size paintings with larger figures interacting.

BLVR: Why did you choose to paint Alice in this attitude?

HH: I suppose because of stuff that was going on in my own life. I was in a complicated relationship with a woman I loved dearly; however, it never became clear if I related more to Alice or to Gertrude Stein. It wasn’t a one-to-one correlation with my life in any way. I think I conceived of the painting in a moment of anger, or of extreme distress. It came to me.

BLVR: The image came to you in your head?

HH: Yeah. I’m really interested in domesticity. It’s a big part of my life. I do not conform to the artist archetype of the lonely creator. I have a fairly normal life, and I feel like I have to have it to be creative. For instance, I paint in my kitchen.

BLVR: Why do you need the domestic in order to be creative?

HH: I feel that when I get too removed from the world—I think every young artist goes through that thing where...