Birthday Ghost
Edition of 100Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper
8x10", 11x14", and 16x20"
Trish Tillman was born in Chicago, IL, has lived in Washington, DC, Wolverhampton, UK, and now lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received an MFA from School of Visual Arts in 2009, and a BFA from James Madison University. She is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation 2009 MFA Grant. Tillman was a resident printer at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center and co-directed AAGPA Editions in the Washington, DC area. She is a member of the band Eyeball Dungeon. Tillman's work has been exhibited most recently at CUE Art Foundation, NY, NY; Parlour, NY, NY; MTS Gallery, Anchorage, AK; Trans-Pecos Festival of Music and Love, Marfa, TX; and Civilian Art Projects, Washington, DC.
ABOUT THE PIECE:
My recent works on paper are excavations into the intentions and gestures of being hospitable. I draw on and cut paper into shapes resembling architectural elements, household or personal decorations, guest amenities, and party ware to build moments of complex impression within various host and guest relationships. The resulting constructions allow me to speak about obligation, the idea of a status symbol, and the inability to reveal our own insecurities and flaws hiding behind certain decorative borders. I use glitter to punctuate moments of enlightenment, and dangling ropes to suggest the possibility of escape. Castle gates and crystals aid in materializing an underlying doom or a sense of black magic, asking who is controlling the narcissistic agendas surrounding these complex relationships we have with ourselves and others. Ghosts and other mystical omens are important elements in these works to show a release of psychic pain and to add a level of comfort in belief.