What Are You Made Of? opened at Galerie Stephanie in Manila, Philippines in January of 2020.
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What Are You Made Of?
These paintings represent an experience of living in a paradise built on extraction of the very resources that created it. I grew up in the northernmost reaches of Canada, my father was a miner and my mother an artist. The stories her and I shared through those long dark nights - richly illustrated stories of supernatural and fantastic characters exploring magical natural places – laid the foundation for dreamlike, narrative paintings I would later create.
“Hildebrand incorporates the evidence of industry into her work and is unafraid to show the pollution of forests and waterways. Yet her view of these places as alive and enchanted still remains strong. This blending of environmental degradation with a magical sensibility is typical to her work and she deftly holds the two in balance without casting judgement. Understood in this light, [her work] can be seen as the mapping of an imaginative terrain, the everyday places and journeys suffused with uncanny activity and a glimpse of otherworldy presences.” Laurie White, writer & curator
The joy I find in painting comes from pushing and balancing colour relationships. There is an inherent and subjective emotional response to colour. We all have our favourites and our responses are unique. In this work, I leaned into my emotional responses to colour.
The first group of paintings, including “What Do You Remember?", centers on cool tones with a foundation of pale violet, evoking tranquility and restful exploration. The second group of canvases, such as “”How Will We Get There?”, is rooted in a high contrast palette of the warmest and coolest colours, realizing a more energetically charged and chaotic character.
In contrast to painting the canvases, which is a process of radical, spontaneous mark-making followed by measured responses, the watercolour paintings represent a very different creative process. Careful drawing and planning allows me to explore and expand my visual vocabulary. These explorations feed my artistic practice with ideas for new forms and chromatic relationships.
Just as the experience of colour is subjective, so is an individual’s interpretation of a question, and even more so the direction that question takes you. The titles are a way to engage more closely with the viewer. Art asks you questions about yourself.
What are you made of?