Still lifes and interiors are deeply rooted in the history of representational painting. I get to try out different marks and be a tourist in other people's paintings.
Hilary Pecis (b. 1979, Fullerton, California) is a Los Angeles–based painter known for her vivid still lifes, interiors, and landscapes that celebrate the everyday. Working primarily in acrylic on canvas, Pecis transforms scenes from daily life—domestic spaces, urban streets, and nature trails—into kaleidoscopic compositions drawn from photographs and memory.
Her paintings often depict the layered environments of friends’ homes, filled with books, records, plants, and artwork, rendering each space with affection and an eye for detail. In recent work, Pecis turns her attention to overlooked public spaces—stoops, sidewalks, and vendor stands—captured during her runs, commutes, and travels around Los Angeles. The result is a body of work that blurs the boundary between observation and personal narrative, highlighting the visual richness of ordinary life.
Pecis received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from California College of the Arts in San Francisco and was the 2008 recipient of the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Murphy and Cadogan Fellowship. She is also a co-founder of Binder of Women, a Los Angeles-based collective of female artists. Her work has been exhibited widely in the U.S. and internationally and is included in the collections of institutions such as the Aïshti Foundation, the Orange County Museum of Art, and the Nasher Museum of Art.
