Jill Slaymaker

Exploring the idea of multiple and simultaneous realities, as well as the interconnectedness and interdependence of all phenomena, is the focus of my work.

I sometimes paint over journal pages, doodles, and in Mostly Bad Ideas, index cards with ideas for artworks never executed. Transforming personal ephemera into art is a way of layering meaning, wasting nothing, and witnessing the passage of time through personal history. I'm trying to capture the idea that we each view the world through a unique lens, and though connected, we exist in a world of endless and conflicting realities.

The "handbook" drawings began by discovering a 1944 medical book investigating hand shapes and illness. Its images of supposedly schizophrenic hands intrigued me. I've been painting over its pages, creating groups of six drawings to be framed together as one. My End is My Beginning and My Senses Unsensed are the first groups in the series. I combine fragmented 'puzzle piece' images to create semi-abstract, open ended narratives .

I have experimented with many techniques and media over the years, including iron oxide, slate, beeswax, glow-in-the-dark paint, metal leaf, blood, sound, found objects, installation, mosaic tile, lithography, ...

School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
MFA, Painting, Texas A & M, Commerce, TX
BA, Indiana University

In the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, NY, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, NY; Davis Mini-Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, Spain; Asian American Arts Center, New York, NY; Hungarian Cultural Council, Dallas, Texas, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA,

2016 - Palazzo di Medici, curated by Marina Merli, Florence, Italy
2016 - Out of the Woods, Mascot Gallery, New York, NY
2016 - The Big Small Show, Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ
2015 - One person show, Nabi Museum of the Arts, My End is My Beginning, Teaneck, NJ
2015 - New Delhi New York, curated by Tara Sabharwal, Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi, India
2015 - International Contemporary Art Exhibition, Gallery Le Logge, Assisi, Italy
2015 - Postcards from the Edge, Luhring Augustine, New York, NY
2014 - Saints and Sinners, curated by Carl van Brunt, BAU Gallery, Beacon, NY
2014 - Peace Project, Whole Nine Gallery, traveling show;
Los Angeles (Culver City), New York, NY
2014 - Other Worlds, Skylight Gallery (Chelsea), NY, NY
2014 - Flat Files, Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2014 - Ladybug Project, The Drake, Chicago, IL
2013 - Library Thoughts, curated by Beata Szechy, Barabas Villa Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
2013 - Koelsch Gallery, Houston, TX
2012 - One person show, Davis Mini-Museum of
Contemporary Art, Barcelona, Spain
2012 - Exposition de Pina, Museo Dabawenyo, Davao, Philippines, curated by Victor Espinosa
2012 - Koelsch Gallery, Houston, TX
2010 - Make Peace, curated by Leyla F...