Hilary Greenstein

I am a figurative painter interested in memory, defiance, and gendered social power dynamics. I work to challenge the patriarchal history of painting. I do this by sourcing my femme figures from strangers’ personal photos, mining our collective, intimate histories for heroines and surrogate selves. Through intentional use of gaze, color, and materials, I queer and shapeshift my subjects into abstract environments. I layer gestural marks, oil pastel, collaged fabrics and paper, and atmospheric color fields to contrast areas of dimensionality and flatness. My otherworldly figures all stare directly at the viewer within these saturated dreamscapes. Rendered solid in concise oil brushwork, they coevolve with and merge into their limitless spaces. 

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Hilary Greenstein, Embrace I, Oil and latex on canvas, 83” x 34”, 2016


Hilary Greenstein, A Pointed Question, acrylic on velvet, 40” x 30”, 2019


Hilary Greenstein, Settle Down, oil latex on velvet, 40” x 30”, 2019


Hilary Greenstein, Tropical Depression, oil and latex on velvet, 30” x 40”, 2018


Hillary Greenstein, Where You Stand, oil and latex on velvet, 30” x 40:”, 2019