The work of Amy Hill

  Amy Hill's artist statement reveals the concepts and motivations behind this New York based painter's engaging works.

"My paintings are updates of works from earlier eras. I choose these eras because of my stylistic kinship with their artists, which allows me to carry on a kind of dialogue with them. Each era brings up a particular theme that I trace to the present day. I have chosen portraiture as it is a genre that runs through art history and allows me through poses, gestures and fashion detail to make social, psychological and anthropological statements about my subjects. Humor emerges through the juxtaposition of modern day fashion and historical figures.

In my Biker paintings I relate the fanciful dress and dramatic lighting of Rembrandtesque images to present day bikers and heavy metal musicians with their long hair, tattoos and ornate clothing.In addressing Renaissance works, because many of the figures from this era are depicted in poses of prayer or worship, I paint my subjects worshipping secular things such as digital devicThe folk artists were predominantly concerned with family and children. The children are often depicted as innocents holding cuddly animals in bucolic settings. In updating these paintings I show urban children influenced by such phenomena as branding, drugs and materialism.