ARTIST STATEMENT: My work is rooted in a love of land and attraction to the beauty of our country. Through the genre of landscape, I explore what it means to be human in this exquisite, unpredictable world. Having grown up among rural Virginia’s views and vistas, I’ve always identified with places where tamed sophistication intersects with wild, tangled nature.
I am interested in challenging the viewer’s sense of place and time by combining the imagined and the real, abstraction and representation. What starts as a place just beyond the fence line unfolds into a moment in a metaphorical paradise. I introduce human presence, at first unseen, through abstract form and fleshy color. Matisse, Gauguin, and Cecily Brown are constant inspirations.
The materials are central to each painting. I combine layers of paint, wax, marble dust, dirt and graphite to simultaneously construct and deconstruct. I have an affinity for mark making and the freedom of the Abstract Expressionists. I allow each work to resolve at different levels of abstraction with the ultimate goal of luring the viewer into a personal sense of place and experience.
I currently reside in Charlotte, NC. I also spend time in South Carolina’s Low Country, Virginia’s Hunt Country and Montana’s Ruby River Valley.
EDUCATION/STUDIES:
2015 Studies with Yolanda Santchez
2014 Studies with Artist Eric Aho, Vermont
2014 Anderson Ranch Snowmass, CO Studies with Annie Lapin
2013 Summer Studies at University of the Arts London Central St Martins
2011 Studies with Florence Academy of Art Jordon Sokol and Jura Bedic
2011 Studies with Artist Eric Aho
2010 Studies with Artist Dennis Sheehan, American Tonalist Painter
2005 Davidson College, Bachelor of Arts
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
2015 Lost & In Paradise. Hidell Brooks solo exhibit. Charlotte, NC. Sept. 11 – Oct. , 2015.
Views From The Garden. Les Yeux du Monde solo exhibit. Charlottesville, VA. Aug. 21 – Sept.20, 2015
SCOPE: The Southern Landscape. Visual Art Exchange. Raliegh, NC. Juror: Will South, Chief Curator, Columbia Museum of Art. ‘Signed & Dated’ awarded honorable mention.
Twenty. Les Yeux du Monde. Charlottesville, VA. Jan 9 – Feb 5, 2015.
Introduction Hidell Brooks Gallery. Charlotte, NC. Jan 9 – Feb 28, 2015.
2014 Small Works Show. Anne Irwin Fine Art. Atlanta, GA. Dec. 2014.
Southern Artists Southern Scenes. Anne Irwin Fine Art. Atlanta, GA. September 19 – Oct 16, 2014.
SCOPE: The Southern Landscape Exhibit. Visual Art Exchange. Raleigh, NC. Juror: Will South, Chief Curator, Columbia Museum of Art
Les Yeux du Monde. New Visions in Still Life & Landscape. Jessie Coles and Susan McAlister. May 16 – June 15 2014. Charlottesville, VA.
Mint Museum of Art Room to Bloom Auction. Charlotte, NC.
ArtFields 2014, Southeastern Juried Art Fair. April 25- May 4.
Celebrate Latin, Charlotte Latin School Art Auction January 25, 2014.
Visual Art Exchange, Contemporary South Juried Exhibition ?January, 2014?; Juror: David Houston, Director of The Bo Bartlett Center Columbus State University College of Arts.
2013 Claudia Heath Fine Art, Featured Artists John Beerman, Susan McAlister and Julyan Davies. Charlotte, NC. December 5 – 20.
Gibbes Museum of Art, Works on Paper. November 2013. Charleston, South Carolina
Carolina’s Got Art July Salon Show. Elder Art Gallery. Charlotte, NC
Mint Museum of Art Room to Bloom Auction. Charlotte, NC.
Claudia Heath Fine Art, Charlotte, NC February 2013 Exhibit
2011 Low Country Open Land Trust Gala and Auction, Featured Artist, Charleston, SC
2010 Sophia’s Fine Art, “Forest For the Trees”, Charlotte,
2009 Sophia’s Fine Art, Group Exhibition, Charlotte, NC
Renaissance Hotel, temporary installation, Charlotte, NC
Low Country Open Land Trust, Donors Event, Charleston, SC
