On Theme:
I am a Minneapolis based figurative painter.  I began painting in 2006 with Rembrandt and Caravaggio books open next to my empty canvas.  Since then, I have worked to create paintings with themes that would be raw and enduring.  My focus has been on narratives of birth, kinship, ritual, and healing.

The most beautiful objects are paintings, and the most beautiful subjects should be painted.

On Process:
Using those I am closest to as live models, I learn from their faces, bodies, and stories.  More than an academic study of anatomy, the collaboration is intentionally intimate to reveal the sentimental. 

On Influence:
I see painting as a craft, to be studied with the rigor of an engineer and the reverence of a poet. My study has been in museums, and in 2008 apprenticing Odd Nerdrum.

On the exhibition “What We Carry” (April 2nd, 2011 – Nashville, TN):
The characters of these paintings all have something to carry; they carefully hold on to talismans or tools, scars or treasures. They also carry memories, hopes and fears—the intangible weight that can be difficult to let go.  They do what they can to choose carefully—what they carry reveals and shapes their identity.

lukehillestad@gmail.com