About the Artist
Ann Hammond Gift (b. Richmond, Virginia) is an artist, painter, and designer. She has a BFA in Painting and a Minor in Fashion Design at The Savannah College of Art and Design. She has expanded her business, Gift Art and Design, which serves as a platform for her design work and painting commissions. As a child, she found herself crafting garments from construction paper which has evolved into her current paintings that focus on the human figure and the female form. She is interested in combining her education in painting and fashion into her practice. She has lived and worked in Savannah, Minneapolis, and now Richmond, Virginia. Her current work with fashion portraits and design has been inspired by her experiences working at The Walker Art Center, assisting painter and fashion designer Mae Heidenreich for SCAD Serve, and as a Gallerist at Laney Contemporary.
Artist Statement
Rich colors, colorful makeup, hats, rhinestones, taffeta, bustles, and folds that engulf the human figure are what inspire me to paint. An investigation of how fashion shapes our perception of the human form is the focus of my practice. With painting, I find myself immersed when depicting shapes of fashion consuming the human form. The painting and fashion that I am interested in share themes of decoration, visual pleasure, imagination, and aesthetic luxury. In this world, the garment gives the body a shape and form that moves (with or against) the body in a beautiful and transformative way. Like most of us, expensive paintings, and high fashion, are primarily accessible to me through social media and magazines fueling my desire to get my hands on the material and fabrics and to view the paintings in person in a gallery or museum. My desire for something sumptuous is attainable to me through painting as I can produce images of beauty and fantasy referencing this unattainable luxury.