“LOOKING IS CENTRAL TO WHO I AM AS A CREATIVE.” - Hieyler Pimpton
Overview
Artist Hieyler Pimpton presents 50 collages on paper for her exhibition I Have Told You 50 Times. The works are part of a series titled If Your Eyes Are Closed, You Cannot See #1-50. Inspired by the collage work of American artist Romare Bearden, Pimpton uses images from vintage magazines and children’s books. She combines these with her own painted and colored papers to create intimate scenes that tell personal stories – from the challenges of personal relationships to nostalgia for the past.
Hieyler Pimpton received a M.F.A. in painting from Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work has been exhibited nationally. She recently relocated to Georgia after living and running an art gallery in Dubuque for several years. She is originally from Southern California and has lived all over the United States.
Artist Statement
It is a great feeling as an artist to have the freedom to express myself artistically in different art making processes. My practice consists of many different forms of expression. My formal training is in painting. I make large abstract paintings on canvas and I also have spent time developing a practice in printmaking. I’ve been making collages since the early 2000s.
My biggest inspiration is the famous artist, Romare Bearden. I first saw his work at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC in 2003. It opened my eyes to the possibilities of creating images with found papers and papers that I colored.
This body of work consists of 50 collages on paper. These works were made using found sourced materials and papers I colored using acrylic paint, ink, pen, and oil stick. My source material consists of old children’s books, vintage magazines handmade papers and other papers. I wanted to use what was already available to make these works. The collages are not hung in chronological order, nor are they numbered in the order they were created. I made all of the collages and once I finished making all 50 works, I numbered them 1-50. Keeping record of the order the works were created was not important to me because I see this as a body of work. I wanted each collage to have a place in the overall body, therefore it was assigned a number. The show title, I Have Told You 50 Times, with each work titled “If Your Eyes Are Closed, You Cannot See # 1-50”, has broad interpretation. I enjoy creating narratives with visual imagery, reworking the imagery, taking it out of its original context, and saying something else with the visual material.
Space became a factor in what I was going to create for this show. The scale of my work had to fit physical constraints and limitations of space. I created these works at a dining room table. The space presented a challenge, but the challenge helped shape the final result. The restriction created a problem to solve and forced its own dynamic, but in itself forced me to consider those limitations in a new way. I have been making collages for 30 years in various sizes, some works as large as 24 x 36 inches to works as small as 5 x 5 inches. The works in this exhibition are 8.5 x 11 inches. I have been trying to say more with less imagery. The medium of collage appeals to my nostalgia for old things and a desire to keep the past alive.
Views From the Exhibition
