“As we live an increasingly digital, indoor existence, I believe that reconnecting with the natural world outside—as well as bringing it inside—can help us restore balance to both our living spaces and our nervous systems.”
Aimée Rolin Hoover is an American painter who has devoted the past 25 years to exploring animal imagery. Originally from Philadelphia and now based in Southern California, Hoover earned her art degree from California State University Long Beach in 1992. Her early career included over 150 commissioned works for private collectors, which led to national media attention and celebrity clientele. Her current body of work explores the vital connection between humans and the healing power of the natural world—a relationship she sees as increasingly important in the face of our digitally dominated, indoor lives. She lives in Palos Verdes, California, and maintains a studio in nearby Torrance.
STATEMENT
I’ve been fascinated by animals ever since I was a kid. Childhood sketchbooks were packed with doodles of local wildlife. And many afternoons were spent attempting to befriend those same creatures.
But it wasn’t until adulthood that I understood how foundational this early fascination was to my work.
Encounters with animals—whether approaching a curious horse at a fence line or locking eyes with a wild coyote—have always grounded me in the moment. They grant me access to an internal stillness and a sense of freedom similar to the flow state of creating art itself.
I believe this is the superpower of nature and animals: they help us live more squarely in the moments of our own lives. From the simple joy of playing with our dogs after a long day of work, to staring in awe at an African elephant on the Serengeti, animals have the power to remind us where we actually are in the present.
My paintings are attempts to hold onto these profound but fleeting moments. And to translate them into a visual language that evokes the same groundedness and emotion in the viewer.
My technique is intentionally painterly, gestural, often raw at the edges. I generally resist the confines of strict realism in favor of balancing likeness with capturing the energy and emotion of a moment. Rather than offering traditional wildlife depictions, I use my subjects more as portals to channel feeling states like exuberance, serenity, or introspection.
In an age when our attention is splintered and our relationship to the natural world is increasingly experienced through screens, honoring nature in my work feels necessary to me. And a life-long endeavor worth pursuing.
CV
TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2025 BIOPHILIA, GAREL FINE ART, Manhattan Beach, CA (May/June)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 REGENESIS II, BG Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA (March)
2025 REGENESIS I, BG Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA (February)
2025 PAWS FOR ART, BG Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA (January)
2024 MAS Attack, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA (December)
2023 Sketch for Survival, Gallery@oxo, London, UK and Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh, IE
2022 Peaceable Kingdom, TEW Galleries, Atlanta, GA (Dec-Jan 2023)
2018 Director's Choice, 19 KAREN Gallery, Australia (March-May)
2018 Fauna, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO (January)
2017 27th Annual Holiday Miniatures Show, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO (December)
2017 St. Hilda Annual Art Exhibition, St. Hilda School, Southport QLD, Australia (October)
2017 31st Annual Downlands Art Exhibition, Downlands College, Toowoomba QLD, Australia (September)
2017 Director's Choice, 19 KAREN Gallery, Australia (July)
2016 26th Annual Holiday Miniatures Show, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO (December)
2016 Premiere Exhibition, Animal History Museum, Burbank, CA (May)
2015 Selected Works, Elizabeth Gordon Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA (January)
2004 The Back Room, Gallery C, Hermosa Beach, CA
2003 Winter Group Show, James Gray Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
2002 Winter Group Show, James Gray Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
2000 Solid Ground, New Millennium Art Gallery, San Diego,CA
2000 Summer Group Show, New Millennium Art Gallery, San Diego, CA
2000 Opening Night, New Millennium Art Gallery, San Diego, CA
2000 Holiday Show, Articulture Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA
1999 Summer Group Show, Articulture Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA
1999 Homegrown Talent, Articulture Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA
1998 Winter Group Show, BGH Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
1995 Fall Group Juried Show, Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes Estates, CA
PERIODICALS
2017 Susan Cullen Hamilton, “Painter Aimée Hoover Explores Her Animal Instinct,” Southbay Magazine (December)
2017 Michael Hixon, “30 Paintings in 30 Days?,” The Beach Reporter (August)
2016 Mission Village Voice, Cover Art / Featured Artist (March)
2008 Bark Magazine (December)
2006 Solano Magazine (December)
2006 Urban Animal, “Pet Art” (February)
TELEVISION
2010 The Bonnie Hunt Show, On-air guest, NBC (January)
2010 The Bonnie Hunt Show, On-air guest / Interview, NBC (March)
2009 The Bonnie Hunt Show, work presented on air, NBC (February)
EDUCATION
1992 Bachelor of Arts, with emphasis in Drawing and Painting, California State University Long Beach
To hear more about Aimée’s story, feel free to listen to one of her podcast interviews below.
