Tuesday, July 20, 2010

David Hilliard

In David Hilliard's work there is a shirtless father in the wilderness and men chugging soda in a convenience store. There are also gay lovers, boys transitioning into adulthood, and glances filled with desire. These are all attempts at achieving self understanding.

Hillard is a gay intellectual with an MFA from Yale. He also comes from a working class background. Through his work you see a discord within his identity. The bluebird tattoos on his chest, identical to his father's, symbolize sewing himself into his alienated history. Amidst the lovingly made scenes of his father, and his empathy towards all things masculine is a critical and uncomfortable eye.

His works are triptychs (or more) of ordinary scenes that imply a narrative. This structure comes from a joint appreciation of film and photography and also memories of his father creating panoramic landscape photos. The style of the pictures, much like the photos of Philip-Lorca diCorcia, walk the line of fiction and truth, or actually, autobiography. In the narratives that Hillard creates about masculinity, identity, and the distance between loved ones, the fiction of the scene accentuates the truth.

Cullum, Jerry. "The Aesthetics of Maleness." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 20 Dec. 2002. Print.

Miller, Francine Koslow. "David Hilliard - Carroll and Sons." Artforum Summer 2009: 343.

http://www.davidhilliard.com/
http://www.markmooregallery.com/artists/david-hilliard/






DK

1 comment:

  1. Check out:

    Jeanine Pohlhaus : http://www.jeaninepohlhaus.com/

    Anthony Goicolea: http://www.anthonygoicolea.com/

    Philip-Lorca diCorcia: www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/exhibit/dicorcia/

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