Gary Hill was born in 1951 in Santa Monica, California. According to his main website, http://garyhill.com/,  he has worked in sculpture, sound, video, installation and performance beginning in the 1970’s. The goals he has for his artwork are to dive deeper into language, perception, and the viewer’s interaction with his work. His artwork has been on display all over the world and is recognized internationally. His work has been shown in the Guggenheim, Seattle, New York, Basel, San Francisco, and London, among many other places. Gary Hill has received many rewards as well for his work. The most notable include the Leone d’Oro Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale in 1995, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award in 1998, the Kurt-Schwitters-Preis in 2000, and honorary doctorates from the Academy of Fine Arts Poznan, Poland in 2005 and Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA in 2011.

He has been married twice, and is currently married to his second wife. Hill met his first wife, Katherine Bourbonais, in Kamakura, Japan in 1994. One year later they had a daughter named Anastasia. Later on they divorced. Anastasia has been involved in some of Hill’s artwork and performance pieces. In 2007, Gary Hill married Magdalena Szczepaniak. Together they had a son named Anton Lumen in 2014 (Garyhill.com).

As for the original intent of his piece Clover, Hill had a very concise message. All roads lead to common ground. The piece consists of 4 screens facing away from each other in a clover-like fashion. On each screen there is a different man with a camera mounted on their back. Each man is facing away from the viewer as to not see their face. We can see as the viewer that each man is walking in a wooded area. Hill’s idea was to make it seem like all four men were in different places but each of their paths lead towards each other. Hence, all roads lead to common ground. The wooded area in the videos appear to be moving toward the men while the men appear to be moving toward the wooded area. This sculpture/video installation is on display in the entrance of the Western Gallery here on campus.

“Clover” by Gary Hill was created in 1994 and throughout the world, events and historical moments that people would look back on were occurring and may have played a role in the creation of Clover. Hill first showed the piece in the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, Washington. During this same year in Seattle, Kurt Cobain, singer-musician for the grunge band Nirvana, committed suicide on April 5th. As well as Amazon, the multi-million dollar company today, was created by Jeff Bezos in Seattle. At the time Mike Lowry was the 20th Washington State Governor who was the last governor of Washington to only serve one term due to accusations of sexual harassment.

Taking one step back and looking at the year 1994 at a National level we would see several more life-changing events. Bill Clinton is the current President of the United States of America and will be until the year 2001. The Northridge Earthquake with the magnitude of 6.7 hits the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, killing 60 plus, injuring 9,000 plus, and causing widespread damage. The Major League Baseball Players Association began a 232 day strike causing the 1994 season to be cancelled. The New York’s International Center of Photography  shows an exhibit called, “Talking Pictures: People Speak About the Photographs That Speaks to Them” which involves the viewer listening to recorded comments from both famous and unknown people as they view certain images.

Taking one last step back and seeing this from an International perspective we notice on May 10th of 1994 Nelson Mandela becomes the president of South Africa. The Civil War of Rwanda between the Hutus and Tutsis had just ended so the rebuilding of half a million lives was in full effect. Brazil won the 1994 World Cup in the United States. It was the 400th year anniversary of the death of the great Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto and so many more events.

Overall these are just some of the historical and impactful events that occurred during the year 1994. Some could be linked to the artists influence to create the Clover piece or could just be another event that happened to be going on at the same period of time

Given the political turmoil that was happening in the world, the Hill may have intended for Clover to be a unifying piece dealing with themes of oneness and brotherhood of all peoples. “All roads lead to the same ground”. Given that the Berlin Wall had been taken down on in 1989 and the Cold War ended in 1991, it is quite reasonable to assume that these had a major influence on Hill’s piece. It is interesting to note as well, the juxtaposition of the invention of the internet. Using technology to express his ideas are very fitting.

It is also worth examining the use of technology, and why Hill chose to represent Clover using this medium. Technology allows us to talk to our brother man a world away almost instantaneously. We also may use technology for any purpose we chose; be it entertainment, (we saw the rise of some classic gaming systems during the 1990s) television, or anything else. The 1990s saw an huge surge of technology and its widespread use, permeating into every nook and cranny of society. The Rwandan genocide was also taking place in 1994, which the United States and other European countries turned a blind eye to. Technology can both broaden our view of the world as well as narrow it; by restricting the flow of information our eyes become wide shut.

Artist Statement:

Gary Hill’s artwork, Clover, inspired our group to create an ending to his work, which evolves into a new beginning. His piece consists of four men walking in the same direction, but never meeting. As a group we wanted to complete the work. Throughout this class we have been learning about the feminist point of view and the struggle women have gone through to be noticed in the art world. Being that in Gary Hill’s work there were only men, we wanted to incorporate women somehow. In doing this, we incorporated two men and two women to create a balance.

In life when we meet someone, they interfere and influence our lives to make it’s course change directions. We wanted to create an ending that would turn into a new beginning to help his artwork keep moving forward in this new point in history. As you meet people throughout your life they bring in new views and experiences. We tried to include this by showing once the person hits the new path they come alive in color and start their new journey with more wisdom.

Created by Michael Eclipse, Gillian Naranjo, Oliva Hunt