Lily Hollinden is a painter currently based in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She received her BFA from Indiana University Bloomington in 2019 and is currently pursuing her MFA at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
“The conceptual framework of my artistic practice is built upon a foundation of my personal analysis of human nature. My work aims to portray human kind within the context of the animal kingdom and the natural world as a whole. I am interested in our similarities to other earthlings, and even more interested in our differences. I would describe my work as an effort to caricaturize the human experience, and I lean heavily into themes of absurdist nihilism. My line of inquiry takes into consideration the origins of humanity, not just from a biological standpoint, but also from a social one, and our evolution henceforth. Even more compelling than the ways we have changed are the ways that we have stayed the same - the vestigial traits of our early existence that have lingered into our modern age. My practice embodies a conflation of time, weaving together primordial evolution and contemporary examples of human culture.
The use of clowns in my studio practice stems from my curiosity in humor as a uniquely human social tool. I am curious about mankind’s use of comedy, irony, and sarcasm as a means of communication, particularly in expressing truth. There is a complicated relationship between comedy and authenticity; sarcasm and irony have the ability to literally speak a lie, yet communicate a truth. In just the same ways that, when drawing from life, negative space can be just as descriptive of form as positive space, so too can humor describe a truth by defining the areas around that truth.
My artistic practice is very closely intertwined with my identity and sense of self. Much of my current work features a specific character of my invention, a clown named Pepper Plinkett. At her core, Pepper is an alter-ego and caricature of myself. Pepper is the embodiment of my personal philosophies about human existence and its liberating lack of purpose. Pepper serves as a protagonist to guide the viewer through a timeless, chaotic, curious world.
My work exists at the junction of representation, stylization, and storytelling. I utilize strategic exaggeration of proportions, color, and space to imbue a whimsical childishness into the work as I desire. My relationship to the communicative nature of an image is a complex and purposeful one. I have made conscious effort to broaden my idea of communication and how I want my work to articulate. The work I am currently making follows an overarching narrative around Pepper Plinkett, and I consider each piece to function like a single-panel comic vignette describing a moment in life. These scenarios I depict are all experiences that I personally consider to be integral to a life well lived - the whimsy of childhood, love and subsequent heartbreak, eating fruit fresh off the tree, and dipping your toes in a river, to name just a few of these things. My artistic practice is not only about personal fulfillment, but also provides that fulfillment in my life.”
“If you can’t have a good time, at least get a good story.”
CV
EDUCATION
2019 Painting BFA, Art History Minor, Indiana University Bloomington / Bloomington, IN
2024 Painting MFA, University of Arkansas / Fayetteville, AR
EXHIBITIONS
2024 “PRISM”, Group Exhibition, MIXD Gallery / Rogers, AR
“In The Performance of a Lifetime: Pepper Plinkett”, MFA Thesis Exhibition / Fayetteville, AR
2023 “Funny Because It’s True”, Solo Exhibition, Bruno David Gallery / St Louis, MO
“Natural Beings”, Group Exhibition, MIXD Gallery/ Rogers, AR
“429: Painting + Drawing MFA Exhibition”, Group Exhibition, sUgAR Gallery / Fayetteville, AR
“Blue: A Color Story”, Group Exhibition, MIXD Gallery / Rogers, AR
“By Design”, Group Exhibition, MIXD Gallery/ Rogers, AR
“Magic Circus”, Group Exhibition, Fenix Gallery / Fayetteville, AR
2022 “Merging Spaces” Group Exhibition, MIXD Gallery / Rogers, AR
2021 “Shaping Time Into Something Other Than Itself” Group Exhibition, Fayetteville Public Library / Fayetteville, AR
“BILINGUAL: ABSTRACT & FIGURATIVE” Group Exhibition, Bruno David Gallery / St Louis, MO
2020 “Behind Our Masks” Group Exhibition, Bruno David Gallery / St Louis, MO
2018 Pygmalion’s Custom Color Show / Bloomington, IN
“Abyssal Flood” BFA Thesis Show, Grunwald Gallery / Bloomington, IN
2017 BFA Undergraduate Show, Grunwald Gallery / Bloomington, IN
“I’ll Be Your Mirror”, Fuller Projects / Bloomington, IN
Pygmalion’s Custom Color Show / Bloomington, IN
PUBLIC ART
2018 Beeline Mural, S Morton St., Bloomington, IN
GRANTS, AWARDS, AND INTERNSHIPS
2023 “Magic Circus” Group Show / Best of Show Winner
2021-24 University of Arkansas Graduate Fellowship / Fayetteville, Ar
2020 Internship at Bruno David Gallery / January 2020 - March 2021 / St Louis, MO
2018 Hutton Honors College Fine Arts Capstone Award, Indiana University Bloomington / Bloomington, IN
Harry Engel Scholarship, Indiana University Bloomington / Bloomington, IN
School of Art, Architecture, and Design Award, Indiana University Bloomington / Bloomington, IN
2017 Honorable Mention, Pygmalion’s Custom Color Show / Bloomington, IN
Hutton International Experiences Program Grant, Indiana University Bloomington / Bloomington, IN
2015 Indiana University Provost’s Scholarship (2015-2019), Indiana University Bloomington / Bloomington, IN