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 ai ...

, and collage.

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, and to Torrance at 15 years old. At the age of 22, Hill started attending Columbia College Chicago, 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 ...

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

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 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 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 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 in Kiev. Hill received
Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Grants 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