| Australian multi-media artist Hilary Pollock is no stranger to new challenges. Having explored a vast array of media from etching to sculpture, her oeuvre is vast and varied. It was with this continual sense of pushing herself in new directions that she was drawn to the NY Arts Beijing residency in China, which she completed in May. Inspired by her journey to China, her work took its primary focus in the form of its people and culture, and she completed a series of decorative figurative paintings entitled An Artist in China, which she began in Australia even before her trip. Pollock explains that the series draws its point of departure from the five senses, an idea that came to her after a previous trip to Paris’ Musée de Cluny. It was there that she experienced the transcendental beauty of the famed Unicorn Tapestries, a series of Medieval works depicting allegorical representations of the five senses. | 
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Jill Smith
Hilary Pollock is based in rural Australia. She recently completed a residency at NY Arts Beijing in China.
Hilary Pollock, Spring, 2008. Gouache on paper, 130 x 190 cm. Courtesy of the artist.Australian multi-media artist Hilary Pollock is no stranger to new challenges. Having explored a vast array of media from etching to sculpture, her oeuvre is vast and varied. It was with this continual sense of pushing herself in new directions that she was drawn to the NY Arts Beijing residency in China, which she completed in May. Inspired by her journey to China, her work took its primary focus in the form of its people and culture, and she completed a series of decorative figurative paintings entitled An Artist in China, which she began in Australia even before her trip. Pollock explains that the series draws its point of departure from the five senses, an idea that came to her after a previous trip to Paris’ Musée de Cluny. It was there that she experienced the transcendental beauty of the famed Unicorn Tapestries, a series of Medieval works depicting allegorical representations of the five senses. In her own series, she depicts a female figure, posited as the artist, located in distinctively Chinese settings and engaged in a variety of activities, from gazing at her reflection in a pool to sculpting a ceramic bowl to tasting a sumptuous peach. Executed in luxuriant crimsons, oranges, golds, and accents of cool periwinkle, these highly stylized images employ skillfully and delicately rendered details, all projected on a flat decorative space.
Once arriving in China for her residency, a country she had previously visited on several occasions, Pollock approached her new body of work from a fresh angle. As a foreign artist, she felt it was not her place to comment on the challenges faced by the country and its people and preferred to leave those issues for local artists to tackle. By adopting an intuitive approach, she delved into the more eternal themes of seasons of the year (summer, winter, autumn, spring) and compass directions (north, south, east, west), content that both referred to Chinese cultural icons and lent an ethereal mood to the works. By the end of her residency, she had produced two distinct bodies of work, both executed on large sheets of paper in brilliant fire-colored gouaches (crimson is considered a lucky color in China). In North, South, East and West, the contoured forms of traditional Chinese pots are filled with a variety of images that recall common motifs in Chinese culture, from local plants and animals to Chinese characters. Both illustrative and decorative, Pollock packs the positive space of these compositions with vivid details and patterns. Similarly, her Four Seasons series utilizes Chinese characters as the “containers” into which she inscribes her congregations of detailed figures, forms, patterns, and textures. Her precise draftsmanship stands in dynamic contrast against her bold, fluid brush work.
Pollock cites the NY Arts Beijing studio, with its high ceilings and spacious walls, as being “pivotal in the creation of these works, especially in terms of size.” She adds that “the interaction with artists in nearby studios, combined with access to exhibition openings and innumerable galleries in Beijing, assured a vibrant artistic community in which to work.” In short, her experience in Beijing was one of intense inspiration, as evidenced by her outpouring of exciting new work.
After her fruitful experience abroad, Pollock has returned to the Australian bushland, where she continues to work on the Beijing series, adding a variety of smaller works to enhance the collection. She also intends to continue working in a vast array of media and subject matter. As she explains, “The act of creating is the prime focus. The greater the variety, the more dynamic the experience.”
