CHRIS HOLLEY expressive visual artist and arts communicator
Music of the Spheres I (after composer Rued Langgaard) detail 36x24in (91x61cm)
A rare outing for large scale Scherzo II and III at Legacy, South Hill Park, Bracknell, 13 Dec - 25 Jan
Legacy exhibition (curator Toby De Silva) at South Hill Park Arts Centre has ended and what a joy it's been to overdose on the diverse art of twelve fellow artists - and then to show so many good friends and art lovers around each piece. An education for me also!
My next exhibition - Rhapsody - now underway at Guildford Institute (GI) features fellow artist/tutor Songul Yilmaz's landscapes and my abstract music paintings. Private View was great fun and with great live music - which always helps - from maestro guitarist Nicolas Meier. Show ends Mon 16 March. My thanks to curator Sue Dragons.
My first GI February talk on the Rossettis, to c. 30 attendees now over (my thanks for great input from an engaged and intelligent audience) it's now eyes down for my second UNPACKING ART talk this Friday 20 Feb, 2-4 pm: scandal and high society make way for post-war London's grit and grime as we look at extremes in portraiture via artists John Singer Sargent and Frank Auerbach. So do join us, booking at: www.guildford-institute.org.uk/event/unpacking-art-portraiture-gi-25-182/ 01483 562142.
With so much strife around the world, it's important that we celebrate art as a positive - an antidote reminding us of life's joy and beauty - so let's keep arting! Here's a mix of exciting and wildly contrasting 2026 exhibitions you may like to check out:
- the Barber in London at the Courtauld: highlights from the Henry Barber Trust, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, the University of Birmingham (during its refurb) show ends 28 June. Rossetti, Whistler, Toulouse-Lautrec, Franz Hals key works plus other surprise gems... courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/exh-the-barber-in-london-highlights-from-a-remarkable-collection/
- outside London: Naum Gabo: Spatial Impressions at The Lightbox, Woking, 24 Jan - 12 April, illuminating 1950s woodblocks from this leading Constructivist and sculptor www.thelightbox.org.uk/whats-on/naum-gabo-spatial-impressions
- Drawing into Painting at the National Portrait Gallery: focus on Lucian Freud's drawings on paper, 12 Feb - 4 May www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2026/lucian-freud-drawing-into-painting
- The Picture Comes First at The Royal Academy release your inner child with works by rebel artist Rose Wylie, 28 Feb - 19 April
