"Skandas" a solo show by Jay Hill in Petaluma

“Skandhas” by Jay Hill

at Prince Gallery
122 American Alley Petaluma, California 94952

February 3rd through March 2nd with an Opening Reception Saturday, February 7th from 6-9pm and a Closing Reception Saturday February 28th from 6-9pm

Artist’ Statement

I want everything I do to be informed by mindfulness.

For me the beautiful thing about art is it’s capacity to bring us into the present moment. When I go to a gallery or a museum and spend time looking in depth at a painting, I find that I have a quiet focus and all of the normal inner chatter and daydreaming are no longer there.

I love it when a piece of art brings a smile to my face, and I hope that my work can have that effect on people.

Bio

Art became a passionate interest of mine when I turned twenty in the early eighties and started checking out dozens of books from the local library about Picasso, Mirò, Klee, Duchamp and many other early twentieth century artists. I took three drawing classes in 1984, but didn’t really get any traction at the time and I drifted into other things: Playing bass in a post-punk band in Baltimore. Driving trucks. Working in construction. I developed other interests, started a family, and essentially drifted away from my interest in art.

Years later, in 1997 when I was living in Richmond Virginia, I saw a film called “New York Stories” which features Nick Nolte as a very commercially successful painter working in a loft in New York City. Most of the scenes are shown in his NYC loft where he blasts music, drinks wine, dribbles a basketball and paints. In an epiphany I think to myself, “That’s the life for me!” I watched Julian Schnabel’s film “Basquiat” which increased my interest in painting. With renewed interest I started spending time in museums and galleries within driving distance: The Phillips Collection in Dupont Circle, the Baltimore and Richmond Museums of Art, the National Gallery in D.C. Inspiration grew, and I developed a great interest in painters like Rauschenberg, Basquiat, Diebenkorn, Close. I attempted to create a few of my own paintings but just couldn’t find a style that was satisfying and that appealed to me. Brushing oil onto a canvas in a traditional way wasn’t leading to work I was proud of. I put away my interest in painting again and drifted into software development, winemaking, handicapping horse races - you name it, but art and painting were once again pushed aside.

San Francisco 2011. Around the time of my fiftieth birthday a friend suggested I watch an aclaimed documentary called “Exit Through the Gift Shop” about a street artist named Banksy, and so I did. A switch in my mind was flipped - possibilities abounded. I realized that I could use things that I learned working in printing (derring-do with an Xacto blade), desktop publishing (photoshop jiujitsu), construction (working w/ wood and hardware), and software engineering (component structures, polymorphism, iteration), to create my own style of art, unique to my life experience.

So I gave it another shot. Up to the hardware store for spray paint, metal screens, fencing, and odd sizes of poplar wood. I started creating and editing digital images in a Photoshop-like program called GIMP. Dusting off my X-acto blades I cut stencils made from the digital images and sprayed paint through them onto wood and linen canvas, also using brush work to add detail and
complexity. At last I have found a style that appeals to me and is very much my own. Now to make up for last time...