Gallery: Tom Hill’s ‘Crackling With Electricity’ at Portico Gallery

Tom Hill's latest exhibit showcases the artist's gift for creating vibrant, colorful pieces out of found items... including jock straps.

By Randy Shulman on September 21, 2024 @RandyShulman

Flame Licker - Tom Hill — Flame Licker – Tom Hill

“Crackling with Electricity,” Tom Hill’s latest exhibit, showcases the artist’s gift for creating vibrant, colorful pieces out of found items. The works are frequently marked by whimsey but also carry a spiritual undercurrent as they explore both mainstream and queer masculine iconography.

Hill fashions his art out of forest debris, castoff lumber and hardware, building supplies, discarded gear from locker rooms, and various talismans from leather culture, including dog collars and harnesses.

“I have been working with objects and materials chosen for their ascribed meaning, intended purpose, and personal significance,” he says in an artist’s statement. “I honor and revere these qualities, while undermining and subverting them. I often take things apart and reassemble them in ways that elicit the surprise of invention.

“I take satisfaction in turning things upside/down and inside/out, forming new and shifting combinations, and designing space that is disruptive, but oddly calming. These pieces evoke continuing themes of churning sexuality and swirling gender realities, embodying an evolving queer energy bristling with agitation, reveling in delight, and crackling with electricity.”

“Crackling with Electricity” is on display at the Portico Gallery, 3807 Rhode Island Ave., Brentwood, Md., through Oct. 26. Free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m., and by appointment. Call 202-487-8458.

Scroll to see more works from the exhibit.

Dangling Participles - Tom Hill — Dangling Participles – Tom Hill

Cinched Waist - Tom Hill — Cinched Waist – Tom Hill

Consecrator - Tom Hill — Consecrator – Tom Hill

Glide Path - Tom Hill — Glide Path – Tom Hill

Rig Slinger - Tom Hill — Rig Slinger – Tom Hill

Sling Shot - Tom Hill — Sling Shot – Tom Hill

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