Hili Slav

A Short Bio:

Hili Slav (b. 2001, New York City, NY) is an Israeli American multidisciplinary artist, currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Slav received her BFA (summa cum laude) from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 2024, where she majored in both Painting and Furniture Design, and concentrated in the Theory and History of Art and Design (THAD). She was born in New York to Israeli parents and moved to Tel-Aviv in 2014. Slav studied in the Fine Arts department at Thelma Yellin High School in Givatayim, as well as in the Art Students League of New York, studying traditional portraiture with Sharon Sprung. Slav represented Israel at the 20th International High-School Art Festival in The National Art Center (Tokyo, Japan, 2019). Her debut solo show Radiant Moon was exhibited at Brown-RISD Hillel (Providence, RI, 2023). Her work was featured in Portfolio Magazine in 2023. Slav has been a regular participant in the Levinsky Garden Library’s annual art benefit since 2021. Her works are in collections in the U.S. and abroad, and most recently her work was acquired by the Brown-RISD Hillel.

Artist Statement:

My painting practice is grounded in observation-- from life as well as from photos and videos. I am constantly in search of beauty, which appears primarily in maternal or domestic spaces—soft delicate moments where nurture takes center stage. Portraiture is the vessel through which I communicate; my work is grounded in relationships, from the growing pains of my own adolescence to old photos of family members I have never met-- I am drawn to the concrete and imaginary experiences of my subjects, often times drawing inspiration from my own memory to help flesh out the emotions supporting my work.

My furniture and sculpture practices are rooted in material exploration and are guided by notions of playfulness and whimsy. I derive inspiration from my own experiences growing up in various locations, and how those spaces (or the faint memory of those spaces) shape my identity. I’m drawn to the longing and nostalgia that I feel towards ‘home’ and other interiors and am curious by the role that design plays within those spaces. How can I embody those feelings of longing within my own designs? How can I recreate lived experiences and memories within a sculpture?