Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, after Arvo Part (detail) oil and sparkly bits on canvas, 91x61cm (36x24")
CHRIS HOLLEY: Statement
An abstract/figurative painter with a dance and choreographic background, working mainly from memory and imagination, Chris Holley's vivid and expressive paintings are underpinned by strong drawing skills and a sure sense of line, her visual art always trying to squeeze into the space between dance and music and bridging the gap with poetry. No surprise then that she has studied Diaghilev's Ballets Russes' astonishing impact on - and contribution across - all the arts, her writings on the subject now held in the National Library of Art in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as with major arts bodies here and overseas. She exhibits regularly in the UK, her art also in collections in the USA and Spain.
In her art practice she works in acrylic and oil plus household emulsion, scratching and carving into the rich paint surface. Working big when possible she now mostly bypasses paintbrushes in favour of sponges, cloths, sticks and her hands, plus other studio artifacts to make the more unexpected mark. Disliking the confines of a set-size canvas, she primes her own canvas, paints it unstretched, later cropping the image to exact size and area. Once painting, she moves canvas from floor - where paint is poured, sprayed, puddled and merged and when dry - back to easel to paint in the vertical. Frenetic and physical, this makes for wide ranging and interesting marks.
Sensing new forms of social exchange, coalescence and dialogue between the arts following their recently imposed lockdown silence, she believes we are now poised to witness a flowering of all the arts in recognition of - and relating to - each other and is currently taking a leading role to make this happen in ambitious project Feeling the Beat at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell. This absorbing involvement is taking her forward in her abstract language.
An abstract/figurative painter with a dance and choreographic background, working mainly from memory and imagination, Chris Holley's vivid and expressive paintings are underpinned by strong drawing skills and a sure sense of line, her visual art always trying to squeeze into the space between dance and music and bridging the gap with poetry. No surprise then that she has studied Diaghilev's Ballets Russes' astonishing impact on - and contribution across - all the arts, her writings on the subject now held in the National Library of Art in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as with major arts bodies here and overseas. She exhibits regularly in the UK, her art also in collections in the USA and Spain.
In her art practice she works in acrylic and oil plus household emulsion, scratching and carving into the rich paint surface. Working big when possible she now mostly bypasses paintbrushes in favour of sponges, cloths, sticks and her hands, plus other studio artifacts to make the more unexpected mark. Disliking the confines of a set-size canvas, she primes her own canvas, paints it unstretched, later cropping the image to exact size and area. Once painting, she moves canvas from floor - where paint is poured, sprayed, puddled and merged and when dry - back to easel to paint in the vertical. Frenetic and physical, this makes for wide ranging and interesting marks.
Sensing new forms of social exchange, coalescence and dialogue between the arts following their recently imposed lockdown silence, she believes we are now poised to witness a flowering of all the arts in recognition of - and relating to - each other and is currently taking a leading role to make this happen in ambitious project Feeling the Beat at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell. This absorbing involvement is taking her forward in her abstract language.