Lot 403 - Sarah Hills (@spanner_intheworks12) - In costume

Oil on paper (varnished)
2025
A6 (10x15cm)
Original Artwork
Signed on Verso
Curated by Art on a Postcard

About

Sarah Hills' work references the notion that the places we have lived and experienced in the past exist within us and can impact how we perceive the elusive nature and progress of time.

From the archives of memory certain cherished objects, quotidian motifs and borrowed and appropriated images are reimagined to create charged psychological spaces that suggest unexpected narratives and reflect a disorientating search for meaning.

At times deeply personal, the work also seeks to find a universal language and meaning through metaphor and humour. The imagery of voids and empty spaces, suggests transitional moments and inevitably leads to thoughts of one’s own departure.

Education

2023

MA Fine Art City and Guilds of London

2019

Heatherleys Portrait Diploma

1984

BA Fine Art WSCAD

Group Exhibitions

2025

Found|land Morley Gallery

2024

Residency, Pouch Cove Newfoundland

Art Gemini London Lighthouse gallery

'108' Art Hub Studios

Pollen Circle Kindred

2023

Adjacent Colours D-Contemporary, Grafton St

MA final show C&G

Small Worlds, The Graduate Gallery

2022

Meet Me Halfway. The Art Pavilion, Mile End

Fissured Realms. D-Contemporary, Grafton St

2021

Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Mall Galleries

2020

Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Mall Galleries

Awards

2021

John Walton Portrait Prize

2020

Heatherleys Portrait Prize

Statement about AOAP Submitted Artwork

These pieces represent the physical manifestations of a mood or feeling.

A stillness emanates; one that comes with looking at very little for some time. Yet they are alive because every painting is a portrait, carrying the message ‘I am here’. The paintings are peppered with clues that fail to provide the whole story immediately. Instead, they hold our attention by prompting further study, compelling us to ask: where have we found ourselves? Who do they belong to? When were they last used? Why have they been left like this?