Biography
Monair Hyman is a contemporary British painter.
She has been a lecturer in Fine Art Practice at Lancaster University; Leeds Metropolitan University; Strikejarnet Kunstskole Oslo based in Barcelona; Bretton Hall College; Derby University; Loughborough University.
Using the language of pattern and the ornamental, Hymans’ research employs decorative abstractions to underscore themes of self, identity, the complexities of love and absence through a feminine lens.
With an attention to surface her work is a poetic response to personal narratives and historical archives and collections. Hyman crafts familiar yet elusive spaces that resist definition. Where performative displays of gender and storytelling reveal dramatic and layered narratives.
Her work has been recognised for its ambition and singular visual language. Hymans’ work is held in the private collection of Sir Ernest Hall and in the collections of Delfina Foundation; Leeds Metropolitan University; University of Teesside; Osborne Clarke; Provident Financial PLC; The Halifax PLC and Yorkshire Bank.
She is a recipient of a scholarship from the European Cultural Academy, Venice and gained a fellowship from The Museum D’art de Sabadell, Barcelona and awards from The British Council; Arts Council England Individual Artists Award and The Willy Tirr Memorial Prize.
Hyman has participated in a range of artistic residencies including The American Academy in Rome; La Nau, Barcelona; Casa Manillva, Southern Spain and Can Serrat International Artists Residency, El Bruc.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and includes Westbeth Gallery, NY NY; Palazzo Albrizzi Capello during the 60th Venice Biennale and Palazzo della Cancelleria Vaticana, Rome. She was a prize winner/ finalist in Pacestters, Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery; The Terrace Gallery, Harewood House; The Hunting Art Prize at The Royal College of Art; The Mall Galleries; Bonhams of Knightsbridge; Royal West of England Academy; The Atkinson Gallery and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham amongst others.
Hyman’s practice has been documented in ‘Feminist Visual Culture’. An historic overview of the origins of academic and feminist practice. Along with published catalogues ‘Monair Hyman’ Leeds University Press; ‘Present Space’, Wrexham Art Centre; ‘Around Rome’, Arte Borgo. Other selected publications include Make Magazine and El Pais.
She lives and works in Leeds.
Artist Statement
” Using the language of pattern and the ornamental to portray the delicacy and persistence of the human spirit, I explore the possibilities of creating spaces to reimagine ways of being, untethered and without limitations “
Crotchet doilies, chinoiserie ceramics, embossed wallpapers, pastoral scenes wrapped around chocolate boxes holding recipes and letters from distant shores. Lace, coloured silk threads and swaithes of rich patterned fabrics. Tablecloths of Madras, chintz cushions and hand embroidered Irish linen. Garden plots of herbs and perennial borders. These were the backdrop of my childhood.
The creative endeavours of women in my life underpin my practice. Absurdities, fanciful and wild juxtapositions were carefully constructed celebrations of life. The act of arranging, crafting, preserving, observing and the consideration of the viewer as the lens through which to see is something all these women shared. These strong women curated their own spaces of resistance that mirrored the multiple layers of their reality. Harbours of refuge, joy and community and bound to all of this was the hope of a better life.
Growing up in an environment filled with material culture was always my visual playground. Drawn to the ornamental and pattern, I am fascinated by the stories they hold. The power of embellishment and adornment is inextricably linked to my identity.
Critical to my enquiry is a feminine framework employing abstraction and the decorative. I reflect on themes of self, ‘Other’, identity, absence, the complexities of love and the vulnerability of bodies. My work is at once personal and political and my aesthetic is a rebellious understanding of space. Where I challenge conventions of (mis) representation and (mis) information to pose questions around dominant narratives that have existed historically and continue in contemporary life. How might these be reimagined?
I take inspiration from domestic thresholds, historical textile and costume collections, Western portraiture and pastoral landscape painting. Whilst looking out to ‘Other’ cultures my work is informed by Japanese Ukiyo-e and Shunga wood block prints along with histories of display and masquerade. This rich subject matter provides context for much of my work.
My practice encompasses paintings in oil paint over canvases of a grand scale to smaller intimate works on paper in graphite, charcoal, ink and collage. I work with a limited palette showing a flattened picture space and attention to surface. Often using repetitive forms that are influx or disrupted. These are not repeated patterns. They endeavour to resist recognition and any concrete figuration has been removed from the composition. What remains are lush botanical motifs and linear forms that take centre stage.
I interrogate techniques that play with visibility and erasure. Echoing the transience and impermanence of the world around me. By blurring, obscuring, dragging, applying paint with varying speeds, directions, tensions and playing with scale. In paintings floral forms emerge and fade away. In other works botanicals are hidden in the webs and wefts of paint. I set up labyrinthine games involving the gaze and physical presence of the spectator. Performative in outlook, opulent motifs become the objects of desire. Playful, flirtatious and quietly subversive.
In my pursuit of absence and beauty I acknowledge the women who have always made and continue to make beautiful things. Through wars, conflict and dark times. It is as relevant today as it was in the past. Pattern and ornamentation is not only a way to explain a surface it is also a way of living.
Throughout my work, the viewer is requested to step into these unapologetically ornate and imagined environments. Much like a traveller, the spectator is invited to take a leap of faith to navigate their own way through. For what is offered within the work is escape, freedom, hopes and dreaming.