In LOVE GARDEN PARTY a group of girlfriends gathered for cocktails and seated at a table covered in white linen on a manicured lawn, is the subject and unfolding narrative of this large format, densely embellished digital print.
Three abstracted figurations, like Orisha oracles, emerge from a dense tapestry of kinetic line work, biomorphic shapes and lush florals. their bodies are accentuated by neon colors contrasted against swaths of black, gold line work.
The features of their faces are formed from fragments of hand-cut collage sourced from fashion magazines and fine art books.
My working pictorial format begins with setting the stage a shallow depth of field that brings the viewer into an intimate space with the figures and details in the foreground. The viewer's perspective is that of someone across the table raising a glass in a toast, or snapping a pic with their smartphone.
The Love & Politics of Women in Art history, constructs of Beauty in pop culture, the social media gaze, celebrity status, Fashion, cross-cultural aesthetics and urban style. A unique interpretation that make obvious the sublime influences of Botticelli and Beyonce. Rhianna and Bantu knots, the jazzy energy of Romare Bearden’s collages, and the pensive geishas depicted in Utamaro’s Ukiyo-e woodcuts.
Skip Hill was born in 1961 in Padre Island, Texas but grew up primarily in Oklahoma City. After attending Oklahoma City University to study Advertising and Marketing, he worked as a graphic designer before relocating in 1987 to Southern California. A two-week trip to Thailand in 1989 turned into a year traveling throughout Southeast Asia while writing for a business magazine based in Bangkok. In 1990 Skip Hill relocated to the Netherlands, immersing himself in the culture and learning the Dutch language. His frequent visits the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum and The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam as well as the Boijman Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, sparked Hill’s interest in creating art inspired by aesthetic concerns over the strictly commercial art he produced during his advertising career. It was during this time abroad that he traveled through Germany, Czechoslovakia and Morocco. After returning to Oklahoma in 1993, Skip Hill studied formally at The University of Oklahoma with conceptual artist Hachivi Edgar Heap of Birds, and influential abstract painter George Bogart. Skip Hill’s art has been exhibited throughout the state in cultural institutions and galleries that include Oklahoma Contemporary, Fred Jones Museum of Art, The Betty Price Gallery at the Oklahoma State Capitol, Gaylord-Pickens Museum, Goddard Art Center, Artspace at Untitled, Living Arts Tulsa, 108 Contemporary, Mainsite Gallery and Kinfolk House. The Oklahoma Arts Council acquired Hill's work in 2014 for the Oklahoma State Art Collection. In 2022 The Philbrook Museum in Tulsa acquired two of Skip Hill’s artworks for their collection. Skip Hill lives and works in Tulsa, OK.