Artist Statement 2022 / 10,022 ADA (After the Development of Agriculture)
On the way to the Garden Series
“Archaeological, mythological and historical evidence all reveal that the female religion, far from naturally fading away, was the victim of centuries of continual persecution and suppression by the advocates of the newer religions which held male deities as supreme. And from these new religions came the creation myth of Adam and Eve and the tale of the loss of Paradise.”
Merlin Stone, When God Was a Woman (1978)
These acrylic paintings depict an alternate gender-egalitarian world: The OtHerworld. In it Eve, Pomona, Medusa, Venus and Cupid reclaim the forbidden fruits and snakes, co-opted from ancient Goddesses, by male religions. Medusa, once cursed, is liberated and celebrated in the garden. This world relies on the understanding that the study of Goddesses and matriarchies are keys to realizing a positive future, and yet remain hidden: lost in “prehistory”. The work hides clues to these forgotten histories of 30,000 years of female-centered religion in a variety of forms and ways throughout the paintings.
I always wondered why Adam threw Eve under the bus. Growing up in a religious home and Catholic high-school, misogynistic and epic stories glowed in stained glass and wildly tragic narrative paintings and sculptures. Wooden crying faces looked up to the heavens. As I paint I am excavating the hidden and lost symbols of female power co-opted by male-centered religions and finding new interpretations in the process.
My research over the last two years includes, daily stroller walks in parks surrounded by geese, reading about ancient goddess religions and mining artwork for silenced women to paint. In the book “Societies of Peace: Matriarchies Past and Present” existing utopian societies created by women around the world are studied - the landscape in these paintings is much like these worlds and is more like a park and a home- A community of women are one with nature and all help one another. The first step towards ending patriarchy is imagining what an end to it might look like.
BIO
Hilary Doyle is an artist, teacher, and curator from Worcester, MA. Her work includes painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture. Doyle recently exhibited at venues such as Taymour Grahne, Hesse Flatow, Public Swim, and Monya Rowe Gallery, and Gallery Func in Shanghai, China. Recent solo shows include Probably a Goddess opening May 2023 at Dinner Gallery in NYC and On The Way to the Garden at Taymour Grahne in London in 2022. Doyle has upcoming group shows with Contemporary Art Matters in Ohio and Gallery LJ in Paris. She has received press coverage in Hyperallergic, Bushwick Daily, and New American Paintings Blog.
Doyle teaches at Holy Cross College and taught for years at Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University and Purchase College. She co-founded and teaches for the NYC Crit Club. She was recently gallery co-director at Transmitter Gallery and curates shows independently. Doyle received an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Currently, she lives and works in Worcester, MA.