Jim Hittinger’s current body of work deals with stand-ins and conduits for what isn’t there. The imagery in this work references holidays, ceremonies, horror movies, and other phenomena that mark a belief, or suspension of disbelief, in a higher power or the supernatural. This imagery exists alongside that of the everyday mundane, where no suspension of disbelief is required, but unseen forces are still lurking just out of sight. Duplicates, replicas, decoys, and imposters figure heavily into his visual vocabulary. Employing a mix of traditional and experimental drawing and painting techniques and media, including oil paint, watercolor, charcoal, gouache, graphite, and digital drawing and animation, he explores the uncanny and how humans memorialize and monumentalize ourselves and our ideas. The juxtaposition of “real” or living objects and figures with lifeless duplicates creates a world where the line between the two is obscured if not completely erased, where people are indistinguishable from their monuments to themselves, as are their belief systems from the rituals and celebrations used to express them.
Contact
jimhittinger@gmail.com
Education
2015 MFA, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
2012 BFA, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2020 Stand-Ins, Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2018 Minus Something, Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2017 Graveyard Shift, Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2016 That's Where They Paint the Houses, Island Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022
Cry Baby, A Mill Artist Lofts, Minneapolis, MN
2020
The Beginning of Everything, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Lecture Faculty Exhibition, Quarter Gallery, University of Minnesota
2019
Driving South in a Mostly Straight Line, ICOSA Gallery, Austin, TX
Green, Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Art Salon IV, White Page Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2018
3rd Annual Art Salon Fundraiser, The White Page, Minneapolis, MN
Art-A-Whirl Group Exhibition, Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Drawing Residency Exhibition, Lacuna Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2017
Collecting Art, Hair and Nails Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
SooVAC Holiday Shop, Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN
Skulls Skulls Skulls, Eight of Swords, Brooklyn, NY
Disquiet, Altered Esthetics, Minneapolis, MN
2nd Annual Art Salon Fundraiser, Hair and Nails Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
The Degenerate Show, Red Garage Studio, Minneapolis, MN
Natural Art Enhancement, Hatch Art, Hamtramck, MI
Rosalux 15th Anniversary Exhibition, Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Group Exhibition, Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Yeah Maybe #12, Yeah Maybe, Minneapolis, MN
Ocotillo, Stella Elkins Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA
2016
SooVAC Holiday Shop, Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN
Manual Transmission 3, Red Garage Studio, Minneapolis, MN
Art Salon Fundraiser, Porch Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2015
A Friendly Gathering, Island Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Open Door Eleven, Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (Juror: Mia Lopez, Assistant Curator, DePaul Art Museum, DePaul University, Chicago, IL)
Stool Sample, Midnight Brigade, Minneapolis, MN
(MFA Thesis Exhibition) Underlined Action, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
2014
Collective Visions, Ellen Kayrod Gallery, Detroit, MI
Blinking Fresh, Quarter Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Untitled Exhibition, Gallery Hangman, Minneapolis, MN
2013
The Chosen, Detroit Artists Market, Detroit, MI
Laundry Fresh, Quarter Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Actual Size Biennial, Whitdel Arts, Detroit, MI
2012
Minty Fresh, Quarter Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Tetrachromatic Realities, Whitdel Arts, Detroit, MI
Biannual All-Media Exhibition, Detroit Artists Market, Detroit, MI
WSU Undergraduate Exhibition, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Awards and Fellowships
2018 Artist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board
2015 Finalist, Jerome Foundation Emerging Artist Fellowship, Minneapolis, MN
2015 Metropolitan Picture Framing MFA Framing Award, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
2014 Josephine Lutz-Rollins Fellowship, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
2013 MFA Travel Funding, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
2012 Undergraduate Research Grant, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
2011 Sylvia Marciniak Scholarship in Painting, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
2011 Art Activities Award, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Residencies, Commissions, and Special Projects
2018 Drawing residency, Lacuna Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2018 American Fly Trap No. 2: The Gun Issue (Publication), Rotland Press, Detroit, MI
2014 Mural Installation, Chrysler House, Detroit , MI
Site-specific mural commissioned by Detroit-based design firm dPop, permanently installed at their headquarters in the Chrysler House building in downtown Detroit.
2013 Album Artwork, Licking Teeth by Yellow Hyperballs, Always Human Tapes, Minneapolis, MN
2012 Meta-Matter, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Collaborative project with artist Will Lakey. This was the culminating project for the first-year graduate seminar taught by Susy Bielak at the University of Minnesota.
Teaching Experience
2017-Present Lecturer, Drawing and Painting, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
2014-15 Graduate Instructor, (Instructor of Record), Introduction to Drawing, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
2013 Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Contemporary Art and Theory, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
2013 Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Painting, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
2012-13 Teaching Assistant (Gradebook Responsibility), Concepts in Visual Art, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Artist Talks
2017 Gallery talk for Graveyard Shift, Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis, MN.
2016 Visiting Artist, Arts 1101: Introduction to Drawing, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
2013 Undergraduate Research Conference, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
2010 Artist Panel Discussion, DAM Scholarship Exhibition, Detroit Artists Market, Detroit, MI