Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition Featured Artist 2018.

Photo by: Lee Walter

"Steven Hill has for many years produced realist or representational art work in traditional mediums, including painting, drawing and engraving. Reflecting his previous experiences as a commercial engraver and acid etcher, Hill applies these commercial materials and industrial techniques to his printmaking.

Hill's crested pigeon drawings are a trope for the extended family of beings of which humanity is just a part. They are signifiers for the consciousness and sentience shared by all living things. Hill's plates used for his prints have taken on added importance as works in their own right. The plates are made from 'trophy plate' anodised aluminium which is then acid etched to varying depths. After the plate is used to produce the prints, Hill mounts in on a box. The pierced areas are illuminated from behind and the reflective surface of the plate mirrors the viewer such that they become part of the work and are shown alongside the crested pigeon. "