HILARY PECIS
b. 1979, United StatesHilary Pecis makes vivid, hectic, detailed still lifes, landscapes and interiors in which saturated colour and geometric patterning create a kaleidoscopic celebration of everyday life. Her compositions reflect Fauvist and post-Impressionist ideas while centring the significance and politics of the spaces and possessions we take for granted.
Early Years
Hilary Pecis was born in Fullerton, California, in 1979. She remembers her parents being practical, making things the family needed, as well as encouraging imaginary play. Growing up in Redding, further north in California, Pecis and her siblings were involved in the local punk scene, which fostered her creativity and style. She took an Advanced Placement (AP) art course in high school and her teacher encouraged her to pursue art, first at junior college, then at California College of the Arts (she gained her BFA there in 2006 and her MFA in 2009). Her teacher at the time, Linda Geary, encouraged her to maintain a side practice alongside her primary art practice so in addition to her early maximalist collages, she painted. Painting later became her main area of work. Pecis balanced her early career with evening work in restaurants, but eventually took a part-time job as a registrar at David Kordansky Gallery in LA.
Hilary Pecis: Artworks
Hilary Pecis’ work explores how the objects and spaces that humans amass and occupy shape our identity—both lived and aspirational. Pecis rarely includes figures in her work: recognisable items, from album covers to books, build up a picture of the person who lives in the environment she has painted, whether that’s a crowded table or a Southern Californian landscape. Using bright acrylics, Pecis simplifies shapes and flattens perspective, building her images from the intersection of different spaces and forms, such as layered textiles or angular streets.
- Camellias (2018) centres a vibrantly pink-and-orange vase of flowers on top of a stack of horizontally placed hardbacks, including a book about Georgia O’Keeffe. This isn’t the only instance of Camellias in Pecis’ work—they also appear in 2025’s pair of etchings Lemons and Camellias and Geraniums and Camellias.
- Gabrielino (2021) imbues the Southern Californian countryside with rich reds, popping green and aqua plantlife, and pink and purple mountains in the background—the bright, imagination-rich palette turns a landscape into a joyful display of colour.
- 2025’s Bakery Display features three rows of super-bright sugar goods, using flat panels and texture to represent the cakes and pastries at the front and back of the display.
- Mt Shasta (2025) is based on a photograph Pecis took to commemorate a trek up the mountain with her father (she was named after the mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary). Two bulging backpacks don’t just represent the paraphernalia of hiking—they also tell the story of her relationship with her father.
Hilary Pecis: Select Exhibitions
Select Solo Exhibitions
- Love Letters, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2026)
- Wandering, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London (2025)
- Warm Rhythm, David Kordansky Gallery, New York City (2024)
- Paths Crossed, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2023)
- Warmly, Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York City (2022)
- Piecemeal Rhythm, Timothy Taylor, London (2021)
- Stairs, Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton (2021)
- Come Along With Me, Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York City (2020)
- The Space In Between, Crisp-Ellert Art Museum, Flagler College, St Augustine (2019)
- Adios Verano, Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton (2019)
- From a Place in the Light, The Pit, Los Angeles (2019)
- Familiar Views, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco (2018)
- On View, Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York City (2018)
- Desert Paintings, Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton (2017)
- New Paintings, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York City (2017)
- El Verano, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco (2016)
- Crash, Park Life, San Francisco (2014)
- In Accordance, Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton (2012)
- Consensus, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco (2012)
- Galleria Glance, Turin (2011)
- Half Truths and Outright Lies, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco (2011)
Select Group Exhibitions
- X Collection 404: When Landscapes Draw Near, X Museum, Beijing (2026)
- California Light and Space (The 21st Century Version), David Zwirner, Los Angeles (2026)
- Colours, curated by Hilary Pecis, Crown Point Press, San Francisco (2025)
- Dine In, Buffalo AKG Art Museum (2025)
- _Paint the Lines, Broadway Gallery, New York City (2025)
- LA Story, Hauser & Wirth, West Hollywood (2024)
- Map Reading of Painting, Daegu Art Museum, Daegu (2024)
- Day for Night: New American Realism, organised by the Aïshti Foundation, Palazzo Barberini, Rome (2024)
- Nostos (with Lily Stockman), Gagosian, Athens (2023)
- The Interior Life: Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC (2023)
- I’m stepping high, I’m drifting, and there I go leaping, Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, Rizhao (2022)
- Life is Still Life, The Women’s Art Collection at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge
- 10 Years, Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton (2021)
- LA Views, MAKI Gallery, Tokyo (2020)
- California Love, Galerie Droste, Wuppertal (2018)
- Care and Feeding: The Art of Parenthood, The Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto (2018)
- Ghost Current, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen (2014)
- Boom!, Southern Exposure, San Francisco (2010)
- Domestic, Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles (2007)
Further Reading
- Hilary Pecis’ official website
- Hilary Pecis’ Instagram
- Artist profile page at Timothy Taylor
- Artist profile page at David Kordansky
- Interview in emergent (2025)
- Interview with The Cultivist (2025)
Hilary Pecis FAQs
Does Hilary Pecis run marathons?
Yes, Hilary Pecis is a marathon runner and Boston Marathon finisher (3h14m09s in 2026). She has compared the process of training for and running marathons to the creation of a gallery show. She’s also pretty speedy: during the 2026 Cease and Desist relay in Los Angeles, running for Unlimited Women, Pecis achieved the fastest times the team has ever recorded for her particular leg.
How does Hilary Pecis use phone photography and memory?
Rather than making preliminary drawings, Pecis has said that she sketches directly on to the canvas from an image from her phone and then lets her memory take over, capturing the mood and feelings of a particular scene, rather than exactly how it looked. “I want the painting to hold the mood or energy of a place, rather than be a faithful reproduction of an image,” she has said.
How does Hilary Pecis use pattern and colour?
Because Pecis paints from memory and creates images that evoke an atmosphere or vibe, while she may start with colours that are close to the real-life objects she is depicting, she sometimes takes colours away from realism—for example, mountains become purply-pink. Pecis uses pattern to represent texture, but also space—pattern size gets smaller in order to show an object further back on the canvas.
What is Binder of Women?
Hilary Pecis came up with the idea of Binder of Women in 2017: a space where contemporary female artists could be empowered, support one another and share their work directly as they see fit. The name “Binder of Women” comes from a 2012 Presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. During a discussion about equality of pay, Romney said that he had “binders full of women” that he used to hire qualified female candidates—this did not go down will with women voters and became a viral meme. Binder of Women was brought to London in 2022 by Pia Pack.
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