News: We now represent Molly Hill in the North West States of America, and welcome enquiries from galleries wishing to show Molly's work. Although we always have a selection of work, Molly's next solo show will be in December 2012.
Molly
Hill's art is a wonderfully rich mix of narratives.
The artist darts to and from new and revisited symbolic
visual language. A homage to an Asian cultural aesthetic
has been a continuing preoccupation of the artist and
remains a strong feature in her work. This unapologetic
appropriation in Hill’s work is actually an expression
of the artist’s own personality, rather than any
attempt to exploit. She sees the theme, as a vehicle
to explore imagery that she is “obsessively
curious about, intrigued by, and compelled to investigate”.
In effect she has created her own world through an amalgamation
of visual aspects drawn from the traditions and rituals
of strong cultures, and her own experience of the human
society – A world in which she feels comfortable
and that says more about Hill’s own identity than
the actual subject matter - In her words, “a kind
of metaphor for the artist, saying on the canvas what
the artist perhaps cannot verbalize”.
Although she enjoys the appreciation her work attracts,
she shuns the spotlight when it is focused on her, preferring
to communicate through her paintings. This communication
is candid and forthright. Hill places figures within
the composition as decorative elements in a tableau.
They appear to have a limited interaction with the depicted
events or other players in the scene. Instead they nearly
always hold a direct gaze with the viewer. This device
creates a slightly awkward nature to the work that is
quite charming. With economy of line and color Hill
paints engaging faces that demand our attention.
Although Hill had always painted, describing herself
as a ‘closet artist’, she did not pursue
art as a vocation until relatively late. She had already
had a corporate career and her daughter was grown before
she received her BFA from Boise State University in
1997 and was accepted into the University of Washington's
MFA program in 1998. Over the past twelve years she
has established a deserved reputation with galleries
representing her work in both Idaho and Washington,
and has work in Boise Art Museum’s permanent collection.
