Charles Christopher Hill: Simply Red: Los Angeles
Yiwei Gallery is pleased to announce that we are opening the first exhibition in 2023 with a long-term Venice artist Charles Christopher Hill. Hill has exhibited all over the world, but this will be his first solo exhibition in Venice and he will be bringing a new body of work unexhibited until now. Including the artist’s works made during the pandemic in various scales, Simply Red will shed light on Hill’s pristine techniques as well as his latest inspirations.
Starting in 2018 Hill decided to paint larger compositions and his use of paper became secondary to the use of the white stabilizing material that he had been using, gesso. The artist discovered that he could burnish the gesso to a low gloss and intensify the color saturation of the images. Hill also started combining geometric shapes into conglomerations that could be interpreted as recognizable images. “That was a happy accident that led me in 2019 to paint objects that I encountered in my day-to-day life,” said Hill. At about the same time he started adding dark horizon lines or a dark halo around the central image. Accordingly, his work since 2021 has incorporated objects sitting on a black horizon.
Hill seeks to create a smooth surface, where paint and chemicals interact with intricate brushstrokes, and thus accomplish an utter transformation from daily objects to somewhat “ritual
instruments” in the tantric tradition. Harmonious pigments suggest the slow motion of the eye’s movement while tracing the edges of the shapes, slowly shifting to the halo around, and lastly reflecting the background embodied by swathes of colors.
The minimalist portrayal on canvas brings up a fascinating contrast with the approaching finesse of Hill’s technique while echoing the Taoist idea - “the simplest is the most profound.”
Hill’s main influences have been the tantric paintings of Rajasthan, the burnished surfaces of Tibetan Thangkas, and the compositions of his friend Billy Al Bengston.
