Born 1972
Lives Los Angeles
Between, Beneath, Through, Against
2008
Mixed media
170x200x200cm
Courtesy David Kordansky Gallery
Patrick Hill’s art addresses formalist concerns, including the graceful articulation of positive and negative space, but the true heart of his work lies in Californian counterculture. Hill’s elegant psychedelic sculptures, such as For Billy (2004), pick up the legacies of the Minimalists Larry Bell and Robert Irwin and the surf- and hotrod-inspired Billy Al Bengston. However, his juxtapositions of solid elements of glass and wood with deep purple tie-dyed pieces of cloth also reflect the artist’s personal experiences, notably his recovery from a brain tumour in 2001. Pieces such as Anti–Tumour Painting Two (2005) recast the balance required by both surfing and sculpture as something exalted and vital. (SL)
