Hilary Sheehan
Part of the gallery’s invited 2025 Collective, the gallery will be presenting Hilary’s work at LA Art Show, Los Angeles Convention Center, January 7-11, 2026
I am a life long California resident with a PhD in Economics from UC Berkeley. I create playful abstract paintings, mixed media works and prints as well as short animations. My compositions are built using multiple layers of drawing and paint, often incorporating collage and gestural figure drawing. Recently I have begun to incorporate econometric note collage elements, souvenirs from my earlier life as an economist. These fragments of symbols and words add extra marks and energy to the work. I experiment with new methods and materials to create varieties of line and texture and have developed an idiosyncratic style with layers of color and distinctive calligraphic lines.
Statement: Before the age of 31, I was a trained economist with little exposure to art. In 1991, I took a drawing and painting class from a local community college and was instantly captivated.
After that class I pursued an education in art as avidly as I had earlier pursued my PhD. I took classes in figure drawing, painting, mixed media, sculpture and printmaking. I read voraciously about art history and art making. I soon abandoned my career as an economist and became a full time artist. Over the years my subsequent artistic training ranged from credit classes at the local college to many workshops at Crown Point Press to learn etching. Cezanne, Matisse and Diebenkorn, with their innovations in composition and color were my earliest influence. Amongst contemporary artists, Amy Sillman particularly inspires me with her experiments in painting, printmaking and animation, all of which contain a dose of humor. I paint with a wide variety of media including acrylic, pencil, watercolor, oil, pastel and cold wax. I use collage materials that vary from dry wall tape to notes from my graduate work in Economics. I enjoy how all these elements are transformed in juxtaposition to each other in my mixed media paintings.
I work in a series of layers, with each layer contributing depth and texture. A first layer might involve torn maps collaged onto a clay board surface. I will then paint and draw on the surface leaving some of the collage materials visible. I often use as collage elements old econometric notes from my former life as an economist. Another step could be covering the painting with gestural figure drawings in pencil from short poses with a live model. Other times I will just draw or stencil in abstract shapes in pencil or watercolor. Next I will paint or collage over these drawings, leaving parts of the underdrawing/painting exposed and then repeat the process adding more layers of painting, drawing and collage. I usually finish paintings with a layer of cold wax and oil paint.
In addition to painting and drawing, I also experiment with printmaking and animation. Exploring other media gives me new perspectives and ideas that enhance my paintings. My goal as an artist is to give the viewer the thrill of discovery that I found when I drew my first still life and which continues to motivate my work.
