EJ Hill (born ''Ernest Joseph Hill''; in 1985) is a contemporary American artist from Los Angeles who works in
durational performance,
installation
Installation may refer to:
* Installation (computer programs)
* Installation, work of installation art
* Installation, military base
* Installation, into an office, especially a religious (Installation (Christianity) Installation is a Christian li ...
,
painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...
, and
collage
Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...
.
Early life and education
EJ Hill was born in Los Angeles, California in 1985. As a child, Hill lived in
South Central until he was eight years old. He then moved to
Carson
Carson may refer to:
People
*Carson (surname), people with the surname
*Carson (given name), people with the given name
Places
;In the United States
* Carson, California, a city
* Carson Township, Fayette County, Illinois
*Carson, Iowa, a city
* ...
, and to
Torrance at 15 years old. At the age of 22, Hill started attending
Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...
, where he would be greatly influenced by the work of
Chris Burden
Christopher Lee Burden (April 11, 1946 – May 10, 2015) was an American artist working in performance, sculpture and installation art. Burden became known in the 1970s for his performance art works, including ''Shoot'' (1971), where he arranged ...
and
Industry of the Ordinary. After graduating, Hill returned to Los Angeles and studied at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
with
Andrea Fraser
Andrea Rose Fraser (born 1965) is a performance artist, mainly known for her work in the area of Institutional Critique. Fraser is based in New York and Los Angeles and is currently Department Head and Professor of Interdisciplinary Studio of th ...
and
Jennifer Bolande
Jennifer Bolande is an American postconceptual artist whose work employs various media—primarily photography, sculpture, film and site-specific installations in which she explores affinities between particular sets of objects and images and the ...
.
Work
![E J Hill, Ups and Downs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/E_J_Hill%2C_Ups_and_Downs.jpg)
EJ Hill is known for his durational performances in which he performs a simple gesture for prolonged periods, often to the point of physical exhaustion. In 2016 the artist created "A Monumental Offer of Potential Energy" at the
Studio Museum in Harlem
The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...
. The work included a large wooden model roller coaster that Hill lay on at all times the museum was open during the three-month exhibition. In 2017 Hill was included in the Underground Museum's exhibition "Artists of Color".
In October 2022, Hill's exhibit "Brake Run Helix" at
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is a museum in a converted Arnold Print Works factory building complex located in North Adams, Massachusetts. It is one of the largest centers for contemporary visual art and performing ar ...
opened, including a functional, human-carrying roller coaster created specifically for the museum. The roller coaster was fabricated by
Skyline Attractions
Skyline Attractions, LLC is an American amusement ride and roller coaster design and manufacturing company founded in 2014 and based in Orlando, Florida. The company also includes a subsidiary company, Skyline Design, LLC, which offers design se ...
and is on show for two years alongside amusement park photography.
EJ Hill also works in collage, painting, writing and sculpture.
Awards
In 2014 Hill received a Fellowship for Visual Artists, from the California Community Foundation in Los Angeles and the Teaching Artist Fellowship at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. In 2015 Hill was an Artist-in-Residence at
The Studio Museum in Harlem
The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...
in New York, was awarded the Fellowship for Visual Artists from the
California Community Foundation
The California Community Foundation (CCF) is a philanthropic organization located in Los Angeles, California. Foundation Center, an independent nonprofit organization, ranks it among the top 100 foundations in the nation by asset size and total ...
in Los Angeles, and was nominated for the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist grant in Los Angeles. In 2016, Hill received the William H. Johnson Prize from the William H. Johnson Foundation for the Arts in Los Angeles. In 2017 Hill became the Artist-in-Residence at Praxis Studio at California State University in Dominguez Hills and has been shortlisted for the 2017 Future Generation Art Prize from the
Victor Pinchuk Foundation
Victor Mykhailovych Pinchuk ( uk, Віктор Михайлович Пінчук, ''Viktor Mykhailovych Pinchuk''; born 14 December 1960) is a Ukrainian businessman and oligarch. As of January 2016, ''Forbes'' ranked him as 1,250th on the list ...
in Kiev.
Hill received
Foundation for Contemporary ArtsGrants to Artists award (2018).
References
External links
EJ Hill's Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, EJ
American performance artists
Performance art in Los Angeles
1985 births
Living people
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Artists from Los Angeles
21st-century American artists
American male artists
American LGBT artists
LGBT African Americans