Tom Hill’s work focuses on harnessing, reinforcing, and expanding the untamed forces of queer masculine energy. Like other expressions of queer experience, his pieces take on elements of de- and reconstruction, subversion, flamboyance, and innuendo. Working across painting, sculpture, and printmaking, Hill embraces the queer spirit of the shapeshifter: repurposing found and chosen materials; employing graphic design and painterly elements; exploring surface and volume; and ping-ponging between abstraction, representation, and symbolism. Color is a key factor in his work, where industrial fluorescents and jewel-box metallics coexist, often complemented and amplified by tones of earthy growth and decay. More than occasionally, Hill uses words as coexisting visual elements that articulate, punctuate, and support an idea or theme.

Above all, Hill enjoys coaxing static forms and functions into transformational stages and highlighting paradoxes to transcend culturally reinforced binaries. Elements are turned inside out and upside down, skewing centers of gravity and balance and creating whirls of disorientation and confusion. Hill states, “Overall, my work is anchored in a tradition in which the queer tongue is held firmly in cheek and dissonant elements create magnetic polarity: each of these pieces simultaneously emits a grunt of rough exertion and wistful sigh – every light-in-the-loafers step accentuated by the march of steel-toed boots.”

Born in Washington, DC, and raised in nearby Maryland, Hill attended the Maryland Institute, College of Art before studying at the University of New Mexico, where he received a bachelor’s degree with concentrations in art and architecture. Following his studies, he lived and worked in a variety of locations before settling in New York City, where he spent more than 20 years as a studio artist. In addition to bar and restaurant work, he supported himself through a range of art-related and skills-building positions, including art handler, nightclub decorator, theatre set and prop designer, decorative and mural painter, graphic designer, and artist’s assistant. During his years in New York, Hill was also involved with a number of AIDS and queer activist groups.

In 2001, Hill moved back to Washington, DC with his husband and has lived in the area since. His recovery and activism led him to pursue an MSW in community organizing from Hunter College in New York, which led to work in healthcare organizing, advocacy, and policy. After retiring in 2022, Hill was able to resume his studio practice on a full-time basis. He is currently enrolled in an MFA program at the University of Maryland.