Meet HP Denham | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with HP Denham and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi HP, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
A few years ago, probably five or six by now, I got a fortune cookie that read: “There are no ordinary moments.” I’ve held onto that little slip of paper ever since – it sits on my vanity – a steady reminder of the possibility in each day.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
At present, my art practice revolves primarily around oil painting. My reasons for entering painting have varied throughout the years, but I’m seeing that there’s always been an undercurrent of being interested in the figure, the land and how they interact. In painting, they can become a malleable unit. Part of my dedication to oil is in its inherent connection to the ground. Stone made flesh. Solid rock, which took ages to become, pulverized and refined, mixed with plant oils, further mixed into nuanced combinations, applied to a surface also derived from the land and dried via chemical reaction to become a very different version of solid. With that poetic lineage in mind, I find that painting is one of the most immediate ways I can connect with the ground.

I recently had my first solo exhibition at Euclid Gallery in Santa Monica this past summer. Curated by Tomas Schugurensky, “Having Recently Come From the Interior” featured paintings I made from 2016 – 2023. As a West coast debut, I’m really pleased with how it turned out! I think the exhibition demonstrates my refinement into this joyous inquiry of what it means to be a body on this Body. Recently a friend told me of “Soft Decay,” a painting featured in the exhibition, that she can “see [my] meditation on my cellular makeup.” It is a celebration that she can sense this in my work.

You can read more about the exhibition here: https://hga.com/hp-denham/

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Whenever I get together with friends, our first inclination is always to pour over and spill our life updates to each other. Hiking through Temescal Canyon feels like a perfect, grounding place for our conversation, so I’d suggest we start at Topanga State Park and talk/walk far enough to look out on the Pacific between the mountains.

I’d also make a day out of wandering around The Huntington together – go see the bearded irises, show them Isaac Newton’s death mask, and take a nap under the giant cycads in the Japanese garden. Topping off the evening with pasta tasting at Uovo feels like the only reasonable choice to match a day spent sauntering.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to take a moment and celebrate my grandmother Hellen Ivey Ryon, who has been instrumental in my creative development. She put a paintbrush in my hand one day at her kitchen table when I was a child and I’ve been painting since. I grew up watching her dedication to her own creative practice, one of fine needlework, and I think these observations early on gave me the encouragement to dedicate my life to art.

Website: https://hpdenham.com

Instagram: @ahumanjean

Image Credits
Daniel Sahlberg