Hollis Brown Thornton

Posted by Fabio 1 March 2010

Hollis Brown Thornton was born and raised in Aiken, SC. He received his BFA from the University of South Carolina in 1999. In 2001, he moved to Chicago. He lived there for four years, working as gallery director of Mongerson Galleries and installation assistant at Russell Bowman Art Advisory. He returned to Aiken in 2005, where he continues to live and work in a warehouse studio.

Does your surroundings influence your type of work?
There is something about the heat in the South that is very important. I think its partially the activity during the warm time of year… the plant life, all the bugs making sounds at night, the variety of animals running around, the cicadas. It has a vitality and a restlessness that is naturally motivating. But the heat itself, it can be very uncomfortable at times, because of the humidity, but I’m so used to it (my family’s house didn’t have air conditioning upstairs until I was 10ish) that I think I physically and psychologically need it.

How would you describe your work in 3 words?
Memory & Uncertainty

What general emotions do you call on when you create your work?
Nostalgia, which relates to memory and how things we remember break down, are idealized, become fragmented or are completely forgotten over time. And uncertainty, being in a constant state of “What happens next? Who am I? Where did I come from? What happens when I die?” and the way we have, throughout time, answered these general questions that relate to uncertainty and the unknown. It is why I use a lot of old photographs or things from pop culture in my work, as well as why I erase parts of those things, I try to articulate the felling of memory. And why I use a lot of religious/mythological/scientific references, because they help us deal with what happens next.

What do you do to switch off?
Watch movies, exercise (gym or running) or nap.

Who would your ultimate collaboration be with, from any field you choose, and why?
I really like Miranda July. She gets a bit twee at times, but her sense of humor and her round about way of getting at general human themes of love and isolation are brilliant to me. Plus, I think we’d get along really well.

Tell us something no-one else knows about you?
When I was in college, I used to write a lot of music on guitar, but I didn’t have a very good singing voice. So I’d drive around and record myself singing to music on my car radio and then replay it, to figure out what was and wasn’t working with my voice.

What did you struggle with the most when you were starting up?
The slow pace of development, filtering though a lot of influences and developing a conceptual foundation for what I was doing. Art in general is this continuous development off art from the past. Its just a long, drawn out process of trial and error before you get to something that has a sense of your own identity. When you’re young, you want it to happen much faster than it does.

Do you think its possible to retain your artistic integrity and be commercially successful?
Absolutely. There isn’t much about being poor and scraping by that gives you artistic integrity, except the internal drive. When an artist works and works and works with no on in the world caring about what they’re doing, making no money off that, I think that persistent effort legitimizes it to a degree, because there is a genuine internal motivation that comes from the desire to make good art. Financial or commercial success canceling artistic integrity happens sometimes or maybe a lot of times, but it doesn’t have to happen. The lack of commercial success can have an adverse effect as well, because it forces artists to make compromises, trying to gain commercial or financial stability.

Do you ever get stuck for inspiration?
Not really. In early 2009 a series of personal and professional things happened that really threw me off track and dug a deep hole I had trouble getting out of, but that is about it. I’m a pretty hard worker and most inspiration comes out of work.

What are your top 3 favorite places in your city?
Hitchcock Woods is a great wooded area in the heart of downtown Aiken. It has a place called Sand River which is literally a river of white sand, with huge white ciffs. The rather large garden my dad and I keep behind my studio is great, in reasonable doses. And my studio.

What are some of your goals for 2010?
To do more large paintings. The 2009 economy pushed me away from large work by March. I made significant developments with my small work, especially my marker drawings. So now I’m concerned with getting back to the larger work.

Can you talk about any current or future projects that you are particularly excited about?
In all honesty, I’m particularly excited about being able to do another drawing. I’ve been so busy the past few weeks, I haven’t been able to draw. Or, I guess, focus on a drawing. Drawing is one of those things I genuinely enjoy doing and its where most of my ideas develop and solidify. I feel slightly off or unstable when I can’t draw for long periods.

What is your favorite time of the day?
I go running in the morning, at a local track because I have a lot of dogs running around my neighborhood. After I run, when I’m driving home, I’m driving into the sun and especially during the cold time of year, I can see steam coming off my arms, which is all the sweat evaporating. Thats always my favorite moment of the day.

www.hollisbrownthornton.com