Eric Hibit grew up in the homophobic culture of mainstream America in the early years of the AIDS epidemic. This experience caused him to identify deeply with “the outsider,” and inspired his work as an art teacher for people with mental illness. He believes in art’s potential to heal, soothe, inspire, awaken and empower. Hibit’s works celebrate his queer way of looking at the world. His paintings are labor-intensive and come together as a dazzling interplay of surfaces, textures, colors, and patterns, rendered in exquisite detail. The color theories of Josef Albers and Johannes Itten inform his work. Knowing that vibrant color is often relegated to identities with less power in society at large: the juvenile, the feminie, the queer, and the non-Western, Hibit’s works confront taboo with humor, celebration, and subversion.
Eric Hibit is a visual artist based in New York City. He has exhibited at Max Protetch Gallery; Anna Kustera Gallery; C24 Gallery; Zurcher Studio; Field Projects; Tiger Strikes Asteroid; Underdonk Gallery; Ortega y Gasset Projects; Deanna Evans Projects; and Morgan Lehman Gallery, all New York; Curator’s Office, Washington, DC; Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington; The Cape Cod Museum of Art; and The University of Vermont, among others. His work has been reviewed in the Washington Post, The Village Voice, Hyperallergic, Newsweek, New York Times and New York Post. Artist residencies include Terra Foundation, UNILEVER, Kingsbrae International Residency for the Arts, and Green Olives Arts. Hibit has produced two publications: Dear Hollywood Writers with poet Geoffrey Young and Paintings and Fables with Wayne Koestenbaum, a limited edition artist’s book. He has taught studio art at Tyler School of Art; Hunter College; NYU; The Cooper Union; Suffolk County Community College; and The 92nd Street Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association. He is currently Co-Director of Ortega y Gasset Projects, an artist-run gallery based in Brooklyn. He attended the Corcoran College of Art + Design and Yale University School of Art