Midnight Gallery

Past exhibition

Pepper Perpetual

Lily Hollinden | Solo Exhibition

A vivid, absurdist world where humor, nature, identity, and everyday rituals collide.

Pepper Perpetual by Lily Hollinden

Solo exhibition

Featured artist

Curatorial statement

The Pepper Philosophy: To find excitement in the mundane, to find meaning within chaos, to find purpose within pointlessness, to find comedy within tragedy, to find animalism within humanity, to find taste in the tacky, to find honesty in comedy, to find sweetness in the bitter, to find beauty in the grotesque, and to find sophistication in the absurd.

Humor is the lens through which I peer at the world. There is a complicated relationship between comedy and authenticity. Sarcasm and irony have the ability to literally speak a lie, yet communicate a truth; intentions decoded through familiarity, context, and inversions of meaning. This collection of work is composed of observational snippets and narrative vignettes from the lives of Earth’s most peculiar creatures: humans. Our relationship to nature is like that of a rebellious child with their parents; we reject what we’re made of, consider ourselves separate, smarter, beyond nature’s influence. In reality, we carry its character within every cell of our beings. Nature does not end where humanity begins. The motif of clowns is symbolic of humankind’s innate ridiculousness; our self-made rules, our cultural hypocrisies, our playfulness, our fantasies, and our desire for good stories.

Much of my work features a clown character named Pepper Plinkett, an alter-ego and caricature of myself. Pepper is an embodiment of my personal philosophies about human existence and the freedom found within its lack of purpose. She serves as a protagonist to guide the viewer through a timeless, chaotic, bizarre world.

Pepper Perpetual is a celebration of bright colors, bad jokes, curiosities, clowns, and liberating pointlessness.

Selected works

South Wall by Lily Hollinden

Lily Hollinden

South Wall

(Left to right): I Want To Go Home (2023), I (Fore)Seen Some Shit, (Spice Trance) (2023), and OG Beach Babe (2023)

Stage Fright (2023) by Lily Hollinden

Lily Hollinden

Stage Fright (2023)

Acrylic on stoneware 9.5 x 9.5 x 18

Pepper, The Architect (2024) by Lily Hollinden

Lily Hollinden

Pepper, The Architect (2024)

Acrylic and oils on canvas 21.5 x 27

Alternate Timelines (2023) by Lily Hollinden

Lily Hollinden

Alternate Timelines (2023)

Acrylic and resin on stoneware 11 x 5 x 7 and 18 x 7.5 x 12

Ceramic Works by Lily Hollinden

Lily Hollinden

Ceramic Works

(Left to right) Stage Fright (2023), Worm Rodeo (2023), and Alternate Timelines (2023)

Southeast Corner by Lily Hollinden

Lily Hollinden

Southeast Corner

(Left to right) Brainstorm (2024) and Clown Fried Rice (2025)

OG Beach Babe (2023) by Lily Hollinden

Lily Hollinden

OG Beach Babe (2023)

Oils on canvas 24 x 30

Sum of Parts (2024) by Lily Hollinden

Lily Hollinden

Sum of Parts (2024)

Acrylic on paper 24 x 18

North Wall by Lily Hollinden

Lily Hollinden

North Wall

Homunculus VIII (2024) by Lily Hollinden

Lily Hollinden

Homunculus VIII (2024)

Acrylic on canvas 11.5 x 9

Homunculus IX (2024) by Lily Hollinden

Lily Hollinden

Homunculus IX (2024)

Acrylic on canvas 6 x 8

Northwest Corner by Lily Hollinden

Lily Hollinden

Northwest Corner

The Nest Ain't The Same Once You've Fled It (2023) and Homunculus Series

Plan your visit

See it in person. Admission is free.