%20copy.jpg)
A Hill To Live On By Rob Sandall, Moniker Art Fair
Siris Hill is pretty much as far removed from the modern artist’s typical journey to acceptance as one could be: spending his childhood struggling with Crohn’s disease, learning to paint in an attempt to cope with the sudden onset of mental health issues that have dogged the Norfolk-born painter and driven him to numerous suicide attempts since the age of 19; being forced to leave his mother’s home and live on the streets because of those issues; gaining acceptance to university at 24 without the necessary (or indeed any) school qualifications. It sounds borderline filmic, albeit more Ken Loach than Spielberg, but the resulting work is currently in the process of dropping numerous critical jaws as the world wakes up to Hill’s talent.
For Moniker art fair, Hill developed a solution to transition his digital works into physical form using light boxes, allowing visitors to engage with the literal and symbolic depth of each piece. The approach drew strong reviews across the course of the week.
Tina Zeigler, Director of Moniker Art Fair, wrote:
"In my curatorial capacity I have for over a decade been responsible for numerous fairs, exhibitions and installations, and as such am expected to continually seek out the best and brightest talent within the contemporary art world. I can say without question that Siris Hill comfortably sits within the upper echelons of that talent, and possesses remarkable ability married with pioneering artistic ideas and integrity. It is rare to find an artist not only capable of painting at quite such a high level, but able to put that talent to use within original ideas and a fresh take on well-loved techniques. His work tackles concepts and challenges of mental health head-on, retaining substance and purpose, not an easy feat to accomplish.”