Janet Loren Hill

In stuffed canvases shaped like a binocular’s viewpoint, Janet Loren Hill paints surreal characters who play out propaganda techniques and warped ideologies from the past and present. The main characters in this series are the Chattering Teeth which are based on the 1950s toy of the same name. These noise makers are up to no good, misdirecting and fuming nonsense. Humming from their vibrations, they churn inside fields of perceptual color built out of tiny marks of paint that transform into a merged color that is created only through its optical mixture in our eyeballs. Surrounding the Chattering Teeth are plants pulled from propaganda posters that advertised programs where the State became involved in policing pregnancy and/or child-rearing. Some of these programs include the Lebensborn program (Germany), Operation Babylift (United States) and the One-Child policy (China). This addition to the work was prompted by the overturning of Roe v. Wade at a personal moment where her and her spouse were deciding whether or not to have children. Trapped in a voyeuristic viewpoint, these paintings are set in concentric textile frames that respond to the image within or further obstruct the viewer’s peripheral vision. Instead of always being centered on the wall they can be found on the floor or high in a corner encouraging a recognition of the unspoken lines that orient our look. Attuning us to this slippage of perspective, these paintings act as tools to see what’s affecting our vision.

Janet Loren Hill is a New York City-based artist whose work exists at the intersection of textiles and painting. Dripping with absurdity she has built a world around the Chattering Teeth and Hammerhead People who play out propaganda techniques within her object-paintings, installations and performances. Hill received an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and a BFA from the University of Washington, where she also studied in Rome, Italy as part of the University’s studio art program. She has exhibited at numerous galleries nationally, including Field Projects Gallery (Manhattan, NYC), Mana Contemporary (Jersey City, NJ), The Border Project Space (Brooklyn, NYC) and Co-Prosperity (Chicago, IL). Her recent solo show, Origin Story, at KAPOW (Tribeca, NYC) received critical acclaim in Widewalls magazine. Hill has participated in multiple residencies internationally, including Wassaic Project, Anderson Ranch, McColl Center, Beijing Royal School and The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA) Studio Program. Hill’s work and curatorial practice has been recognized in Artnet, Hyperallergic, The Boston Globe, Boston Art Review, and W Magazine. In 2017, Hill was spotlighted in the MFA Annual Edition of New American Paintings by Elisabeth Sherman, Assistant Curator at the Whitney Museum of Art. Her interactive game and immersive installation, Lickety-Split, All In Jest!, was recently showcased in a solo booth at SPRING/BREAK Art Show NYC 2023.