About hermonie
Baltimore City
Hermonie bb (née Hermonie “only” Williams) is a multidisciplinary artist who makes hybrid works using photographs of her sculpture to create comprehensive visualizations of abstract concepts. Williams’ graphite drawings are expertly drafted using simple geometric forms and gradients to craft dichotomous forces in a graphic narrative.
She has exhibited in solo exhibitions at … more
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Big Deal
Big Deal was a conceptual installation based on Dramatism, the brand of literary theory touted by Kenneth Burke in his 1945 book "A Grammar of Motives". The artist utilized Burke's "Dramatist Pentad" strategy of finding meaning in a text and expanded this strategy into the abstract, finding meaning in combinations of the following elements: act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. These five components were used to reference the five major points of the human body. The repeated use of the number 5 and other symbols such as the cross, triangles, and dodecahedra, lend an air of mysticism. The artist made intentional use of the stark language of Modernism to articulate her passion for objectification and authority.
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Installation View 1WORKS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: HALF RED : tempera on wallpaper - 2'x3' each, NOVELTY SCULPTURE GROUP A : (see detail), BLACK DODECAHEDRA 1 : concrete - height 18", PENTAGON BLACK 1 : wood - height 36", NOVELTY SCULPTURE GROUP B : (see detail), FLAG BLACK FLAG WHITE : vinyl - height 6', BLACK CUBE 1 : wood - 2'x2'x2', PENTAGON BLACK 2 : wood - height 36", BLACK X RED HALF : tempera on wallpaper framed - 11"x14" each, IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD AND THE WORD WAS GOD : wood - height 6'.
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Installation View 2
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Installation View 3WORKS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT : BLACK DODECAHEDRA 2 : concrete - height 18", BLACK CUBE 2 : wood - 2'x2'x2', IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD AND THE WORD WAS GOD : wood - height 6', XXX (red crosses along the wall, between doors) : wood - 4'x8', BLACK CUBE 1 : wood - 2'x2'x2', BLACK DODECAHEDRA 1 : concrete - height 18", RED : enamel paint - 6'x2', BLUE : blue tempera - 2'X2'
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Installation View 4
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Installation View 5
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Novelty Sculpture Group BLEFT TO RIGHT : BLACK DODECAHEDRA : cardboard and vinyl - height 10", WHITE TETRAHEDRON : plexiglass and vinyl - height 8", WHITE TETRAHEDRON : plexiglass and vinyl, height 8", RED TETRAHEDRON : plexiglass and vinyl, height 8", YELLOW TETRAHEDRON : plexiglass and vinyl, height 8". Similarly to NOVELTY SCULPTURE GROUP A, GROUP B is a display of objects with reduced elevation to create a physical and psychological distance from the viewer, however, unlike GROUP A, GROUP B has more intrinsic significance. The geometry is derived from the "Timeaus", Plato's 360 b.c. treatise on the sacred formation of the universe. The dodecahedron represents the shape of the cosmos while the tetrahedron embodies fire.
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Black Dodecahedra
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Novelty Sculpture Group ALEFT TO RIGHT : concrete, charcoal, clay, plastic, rubber, wood, pizza. NOVELTY SCULPTURE GROUP A is a collection of objects displayed on a shelf 6 inches from the ground. The elevation is meant to diminish any contact one could have with the objects while their isolation further objectifies them. Their significance to each other is due to proximity and not to any intrinsic property. This is an invitation for one to consider her proximity and significance to those around her.
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Big Deal with Notes
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Red & Yellow, Black & White
Some What
Some What was a Minimalist exhibition of paintings and altered photographs produced during a four week residency at the Lobot studios in Oakland, California. A limited palate of shapes and colors built a dramatic contrast between the object of the painting and the enveloping emptiness of the gallery. The artist invests her design and installation skills into creating a monastic environment imbued with an undercurrent of isolation and anxiety.
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Some WhatTempera and gouache paintings on a curved wall; various sizes.
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Some WhatTempera and gouache paintings on paper; various sizes.
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Some WhatTempera and gouache paintings on a curved wall; various sizes.
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Some WhatInstallation view of "Lean, 2", wooden sculpture in the foreground. Tempera and gouache paintings on a curved wall behind the sculpture.
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Blue Tip Black StabGouache on paper. 2 x 12 x 20 in.
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UntitledTempera and gouache. 24 x 18 in.
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Red Tip Black StabGouache on paper; cut out. 2 x 12 x 20 in.
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Nice NiceTempera and Gouache on paper. 18 x 24 in.
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Untitled (detail)Tempera and gouache on paper. 18 x 24 in.
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FaultAltered photograph. 32 x 14 in.
HER,M.
A selection of work from a series of paintings and sculpture studying the cube.
"This series is an experiment in creating a "perfect" image - the hypothesis being that such a thing can exist. I started using cubes in my work while studying the Dramatist Pentad and the number 5's association with the cube in Platonic geometry (cube = earth). While researching the word HERM (a bust on a four sided pillar or a squared off rock, as some of the first altars were) I've begun to associate with the cube on a personal level."
- Hermonie, only. December 2011
"This series is an experiment in creating a "perfect" image - the hypothesis being that such a thing can exist. I started using cubes in my work while studying the Dramatist Pentad and the number 5's association with the cube in Platonic geometry (cube = earth). While researching the word HERM (a bust on a four sided pillar or a squared off rock, as some of the first altars were) I've begun to associate with the cube on a personal level."
- Hermonie, only. December 2011
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MonoplinthInk and tempera on paper. 18 x 24 in.
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Plinth ScatterInk and tempera on paper. 18 x 24 in.
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QuadriplinthInk and tempera on paper. 18 x 24 in.
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Perfection ModelsSketchbook drawings. Graphite on paper. 8.5 x 11 in.
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7Graphite on paper. 16.5 x 22 in.
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6Graphite on paper. 16.5 x 22 in.
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5Graphite on paper. 16.5 x 22 in.
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4Graphite on paper. 16.5 x 22 in.
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Phonetic Landscape Number One With Three KeysVisitors posing with Phonetic Landscape... at the Baker Artist Awards exhibition closing at the BMA, October 2011.
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Phonetic Landscape Number One With Three KeysWall painting with plywood structure. 18'10'' x 14'. "There is a suggestion of uncertainty and dread in this piece that speaks through the predictability of the geometry used. The landscape referred to in the title is the repeating cube pattern on the wall. The cube is used in reference to the elemental property of the platonic solid representing Earth. This painting was designed to be symbolically grounding but visually destabilizing; It is a study in the congruency of the opposing perceptual states of stability and instability. The phonetic direction originates from my discontinued use of words in paintings. I stopped using words in the studio because the path of least resistance between the abstractness of an idea and the concreteness of a representation can not be bridged with language. The more I depended on language the more of an accessory words became; There was no way to magnify the hidden framework in the words themselves that would make them any more transparent, graspable - laid bare under the blanket of human perception. This is why my use of the platonic solids has been so consistent for the past year; Geometry is just as ornamental as language but less self-conscious. The three "keys" are meant to set the tone of the composition; They are the grounding elements within an exquisite reverb. I used the word "key" to invoke a pitch as well as the visual of an instrument that opens or closes space; A revealing and concealing tool." - Hermonie, only. October 2011
Selected Paintings
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Plane 2 ColdTempera on paper. 18 x 24 in.
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Plane 1 WarmTempera on paper. 18 x 24 in.
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Congruency (detail)Gouache on paper mounted to plywood, mylar, colored pencil.
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CongruencyGouache on paper mounted to plywood, mylar, colored pencil. 36 x 11 in. (together)
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Pendular Tilt IVTempera on paper. 18 x 24 in.
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Pendular Tilt ITempera on paper. 18 x 24 in.
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White ShiftTempera on canvas. 30 x 30 in.
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Black ShiftTempera on canvas. 30 x 30 in.
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Pendular Tilt IITempera on paper. 18 x 24 in.
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Pendular Tilt IIITempera on paper. 24 x 18 in.
Selected Drawings & Paintings
A selection of paintings and drawings from 2012.
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Caligulavector modified image for print
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Monadgraphite on paper 18 in.
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Untitledprinting ink, spraypaint, on paper 32 x 32 in. (flat)
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Upspray paint on laminated paper 16 x 24 in.
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Stayspray paint on laminated paper 16 x 24 in.
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Student Council 1980 (detail)acrylic, ink, colored pencil on found photograph
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Student Council 1980acrylic, ink, colored pencil on found photograph 38 x 24 in.
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Play Alongtempera on paper. 10 x 8 in.
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(as yet untitled) 2013(detail) graphite on paper. 210x021 in.
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(as yet untitled) 2013graphite on paper. 21 x 21 in.
More or Less the Same
To create this image I took a dowel and cut it into an even number of pieces. I painted each piece with black and white paint. Every segment has an inverse segment painted as its opposite. If all of the segments were arranged back in a straight line it would be continuous, with no gaps. This piece is about completion.