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February Issue 2006
Richard James Galleries in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Matthew Hillier and Others
The Richard James Galleries, in historic downtown Charleston, SC, will be getting wild during the 24th annual Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, Feb. 16-19, 2006. During the expo the gallery will be featuring the exhibit, Mini's Gone Wild, with special guest artist, award winning internationally known wildlife artist Matthew Hillier, formerly from England.
Matthew Hillier
Hillier will be showcasing nearly twenty new original paintings and will be greeting collectors during this four day weekend. The miniature show will feature works by twenty nationally known artists including: John Seerey-Lester, Wanda Mumm, Peter Pettegrew, Ford Smith, Terry Miller, Douglas Grier, Joan A. Davis and more.
Hillier's extraordinary wildlife paintings offer the viewer a unique vantage point. His paintings express more than the physical characteristics of a species; they reveal something of its personality.
Traveling widely in search of subjects to study and paint, Hillier has visited Africa several times (where he was charged by an angry elephant), India, other parts of Europe and Southeast Asia. He loves the big cats and rhinos and finds himself drawn to water birds. Since moving to the States, he has begun painting North American subjects in addition to the dramatic African and bird subjects for which he is renowned.
Hillier studied at Dyfed
College of Art in Carmarthen, West Wales, graduating with distinction.
Three of his paintings were accepted by the Royal Academy Summer
Exhibition, and he has exhibited regularly at the Pastel Society,
the Society of Wildlife Artists, where he is a council member,
The Royal Institute and the Miniature Society, as well as the
Paris Salon, the Royal Society of Marine Artists and the Biarritz
Salon. A member of the Society of Animal Artists, Hillier's work
is part of their traveling exhibition. He has participated in
Christie's Wildlife Art Auction, and his work has also been included
in Leigh Yawkey Woodson's touring show of Birds in Art.
Hillier has had one-man exhibitions throughout Great Britain and
has illustrated several books. In 1995, he won the World Wildlife
Fund Fine Art Award. A regular contributor to the Guinness
Book of Records illustrating the wildlife section, Hillier
spent two years illustrating The Rhinoceros, a monograph
published by Basilisk Press. This entailed traveling to Africa
and Sumatra to study rhinos, after which he produced 20 large
plates of portraits and paintings of five species of rhino, in
addition to behavioral sketches. Rhinos are, he says, "wonderful
subjects to paint."
The love Hillier feels for his subjects is evident in his work. He will, as he says, "paint anything that moves. I paint animals because I love animals, and part of loving animals is being concerned about what ís happening to species in the wild."
For more information
check our SC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at
843/577-9122 or at (www.richardjamesgalleries.com).
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