ABOUT TILLY

 

ARTIST BIO

Tilly Trevitt (b. 1997, London) is a contemporary British artist known for expressive abstracts and intimate figurative works. The self-taught neurodivergent artist also creates tongue-in-cheek text art, in both physical and digital forms. 

Tilly studied English Language and Literature (BA/MA and MSt) at the University of Oxford before working in journalism. In early 2023, she pivoted into painting following a period of burnout and depression. 

Her work is deeply reflective, introspective and philosophic. Sometimes bold, sometimes delicate and gestural, her figurative pieces are the most intentional of her artworks. Completed in quick bursts, over 1-2 sittings, these minimally rendered, people-less domestic scenes often embody a sense of longing, hope and/or nostalgia. 

By contrast, Tilly's abstract paintings tend to be built up over many months or years, using layers and layers of varied materials. Her intention here is to be as unintentional and intuitive as possible. These feel joyful, chaotic, romantic and complicated.  

Tilly's practice revolves around deepening her connection to herself. She uses it to explore the tension between her ADHD and ASD (Autism), as well as other parts. The AuDHD artist views her paintings as a neutral negotiation space where she can draw conclusions about love, fear and the meaning of life. 

She now lives and works in Gloucestershire. 

 

ARTIST STATEMENT

hi [waves hand] / im tilly. / painter, multidisciplinary mess-maker n general angel of chaos. 

i didn't go to art school. maybe one day i will. / for now, im self-taught and self-trusting. 

i started painting seriously in spring 2023. / i was deep in the woods of burnout, heartbreak and (quite possibly) spiritual psychosis. / i was looking for something 2 hold me. 

im a hopeful romantic. a Capricorn. a reforming good girl. / i like to romanticise. i like to go down mental rabbit holes. i like to find a way. 

working as an artist has room for all that. / it feels good to daydream. to have paint on my forehead n knees. 

everything is art to me. / a walk. a meme. a t-shirt design. 

everything is also part of my practice. / browsing a charity shop. rewriting my to do list. resisting the urge to text my ex. 

i treat life like one of my paintings. or, it's the other way around, because living came first. / (making art made it visible, though. / taught me a new way to live. to make peace with the way i already am.) 

my practice is intuitive and emotional and deeply personal. / my practice is abt embracing randomness and imperfection and paradox.

i document the destruction. i lean into the disarray. i keep the crossings out. 

dramatic intense impulsive frantic calculated wild restrained measured intentional quiet curated witty playful thoughtful honest unpolished diplomatic ambiguous romantic raw direct authentic poetic open-hearted desperate n afraid sometimes but nonetheless trying to be vulnerable...

... are some ways i'd describe myself. and my work. (i mean, it's an extension of me.) 

i'm tryna get louder. / i'm tryna get softer. / more loving. 

i'm tryna build a life n career with space for my AuDHD. i'm tryna make my nervous system more and less nervous. hustle less n ASK FOR MORE. 

i make art for people who are falling apart + putting themselves back together. i make art for people who are searching for new ways to live (laugh) n love. i make art for people who need help figuring out what they want, saying what they need or claiming who they are. 

i care abt accessibility. that's why i have payment plans. that why i make memes. that's why i write like this. / (that's also why i have high prices. becos changing the world starts w accommodating yourself.) 

merch is another arm of my art-making. mostly t-shirts with tongue-in-cheek slogans, but we're expanding. i've been told again n again, "focus on one thing!" No. / i don't want 2 niche down. i can do both. THERE IS SPACE FOR BOTH.

fine art n commercial. high n low. abstract n figurative. minimalist n maximal. / (there. is. space. for. both.) 

even now my practice is more developed, i still have two distinct painting styles. i consider them autistic-coded n ADHD-core. (go have a look n see if you can figure it out. you will almost certainly be able 2.)

to choose only one would be to sacrifice a part of me. and i'm not into that anymore. no parts are getting left behind! 

as an autistic ADHDer, i am hot n cold. i confuse myself. i confuse other people. i embody contradiction to an extreme degree. so yeh, f*cking duh that my body of work does that too! 

at an open studios recently, a prospective buyer asked me: "which of your styles is the direction you're going in?" / "oh," i mused. considered. grinned. 

"both."