Amy Hill

“Young and Innocent”

April 15-May 22

Opening Reception: Friday, April 15th, 7-9PM

Front Room Gallery is proud to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Amy Hill entitled “Young and Innocent.”

Amy Hill’s inspiration for her most recent body of work is American Folk Art, which served as a reflection of the artists’ impressions of society, its needs and mores. A common subject was family, and more specifically, children, often depicted with a focus on their innocence, holding cuddly animals in bucolic settings.

In updating these paintings, Hill has depicted urban children decorated by logos, tattoos, piercings, drugs and digital media. This allows for an examination of the phenomenon of innocence, its value, and the possibility of its survival in a fast moving world. With technical proficiency, Hill explores the charm and directness of Folk Art by employing the era’s distortions of perspective and anatomy, as well as a highly personal perspective.

This new series of paintings continues Hill’s examination of earlier eras in art history. The eras are chosen for her stylistic kinship with their respective artists, allowing her to carry on a dialogue with them. Hill revives the styles and makes them her own by exploring themes that can be traced to the present day. Through portraiture, a genre that runs throughout art history, Hill utilizes a variety of poses, gestures, fashion and accouterments to make social, psychological and anthropological statements. Humor emerges through the juxtaposition of modern day fashion and historical figures.

Amy Hill received her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and studied at New York University. She has received grants from the Peter S. Reed Foundation and Art Matters and a studio grant from the Elizabeth Foundation. Hill received nominations for the Catherine Doctorow Prize for Contemporary Painting and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She received a Purchase Award from West Publishing Company, the Juror Award for the 2006 NYU Small Works Show and an Honorable Mention from the National Arts Club. She has attended residencies at Byrdcliffe in Woodstock, NY, The Virginia Center For the Creative Arts in Sweet Briar, Virginia, and Cummington Community of Artists in Massachusetts. She has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally. Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, Artnet Magazine, Artinfo.com, and Cover Magazine, as well as other national and international publications. She currently lives and works in New York.

For inquiries, please contact Front Room Gallery: [email protected], 718-782-2556