November 2019

Hill’s emotive portraiture explores the effects that psychological conditions have on an individual, his works reflecting his own realities of living with mental illness as he investigates the social obstructions and loss of identity it creates. Unable to work around the fumes of oil paint, he has instead undertaken digital painting techniques to demonstrate a mastery of techniques of 17th-century artists.

Hill started struggling with his mental health as a teenager, and subsequently found himself living on the streets. Despite extremely challenging circumstances he completed a BA Fine Arts degree at Norwich University of the Arts and has since curated an exhibition for Rethink Mental Illness in Norwich called ‘Art of the Mind’ at the Forum. This provided an opportunity for artists to share their work with the public and open a positive conversation around mental health.

Director of the Fairhurst Gallery, Dulcie Humphrey, states: “Siris’ work has something incredibly seductive about it. On a technical level it opens up an interesting conversation about painting as a digital medium. With titans of the process such as David Hockney embracing digital media as a way of working is this the direction painting is going into the future? The juxtaposing of Siris’ modern techniques depicting subjects seeped in old master references makes the final results even more intriguing