The Pit is pleased to present From a Place in the Light, a solo exhibition by LA-based artist Hilary Pecis. The exhibition comprises of thirteen acrylic paintings on canvas and is on display through June 8, 2019.
The works in From a Place in the Light continue Pecis's investigations into historical painting subjects such as still life's, landscapes, interiors, and sites from her surroundings. The title references living and working in LA, where artists, particularly painters, oftentimes cite the quality of light as a valuable tool. Though working within painting troupes with such long histories, Pecis's canvases are imbued with a fresh playfulness – not just through her vibrant use of color and patterns, but also from rendering her compositions from flattened areas giving them a slightly distorted and dreamy quality.
There is almost no illusionistic depth painted into these works, rather the viewer's eye forces a sense of perspective onto the scene when viewing one layer of flattened acrylic color against another. This embrace of graphic quality forces these paintings into a conversation with another form of painting that has deep roots in Los Angeles and in Pecis's practice – sign painting and graphic design. Of the thirteen paintings in this exhibition, half of the canvases contain representations of printed graphic materials such as text on book spines, signage on storefronts or street signs, labels on wine bottles, etc. Her paintings are a reflection of her daily life and surroundings, which she documents with a large archive of snapshots, then uses to create the compositions of her paintings.
Hilary Pecis lives in Los Angeles, CA. She received her Master of Fine Arts in 2009 and her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2006 from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, CA. Pecis's work has been the subject of one-person exhibitions at galleries across California and in New York.
