“In my still life works, I just arrange the things that are already laying around into a composition that works for me... Honestly, I like the option to paint anything I want, and try to not set limitations.”- Hilary Pecis

Hilary Pecis’s Dinner (2019) occupies a space between still life and tableau. The painting captures a domestic scene not through human figures, but through what remains: empty plates, scattered cutlery, and the detritus of a meal. The composition includes the torsos of guests who are cropped out of the frame, whose presence is evoked through objects rather than depicted directly. Pecis builds narrative through the arrangement of inanimate objects, a strategy that allows her to imply tone, interaction, and atmosphere with minimal figuration.

Executed in crisp, deliberate linework and structured with a strong geometric sensibility, Dinner is rendered in vivid yet subdued tones. The palette recalls the legacy of Fauvism, particularly in its fusion of expressive colour with compositional clarity. There is a peaceful luminosity to the scene – a distinctly Californian glow – as if caught in the warm light of late afternoon. This atmosphere reflects Pecis’s deep connection to the Southern Californian environment, which regularly informs both her subject matter and style.

Pecis draws inspiration from artists such as David Hockney, Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, and André Derain. Her process typically begins with photographs taken from her everyday surroundings, which she then translates into paint. In doing so, she distorts and reinterprets the original scene, producing a work like Dinner that feels both hyperreal and subtly unreal, rooted in observation but transformed by intuition.