Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, after Arvo Part (detail) oil and sparkly bits on canvas, 91x61cm (36x24")
CHRIS HOLLEY: Statement
An abstract/figurative painter working mainly from memory and imagination, Chris's vivid and expressive paintings are underpinned by strong drawing skills and a sure sense of line. Her continual etching out of a place for her visual art in the space between dance and music is instinctive and motivated by her long and constant involvement with those two vibrant arts. Think composition, colour, contrast, texture, rhythm, pattern - all apply equally to visual art, dance and music, endlessly feeding her creative impetus. No surprise then that she has studied Diaghilev's Ballets Russes' astonishing impact on the visual arts, her writings on the subject now held in the National Library of Art in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as in the archives of other major arts bodies here and overseas.
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.
Linking all Chris’s visual art is rhythm and flow. And now, coming to an end is her Rhythmical Horizons series of paintings, based on the pure abstraction of small random marks she first made as colour experiments, then amplifying and scaling them up into gradually larger images on paper and canvas. Taking forward this new development in her abstract language, she is now joining a fellow artist in an exciting project Feeling the Beat at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Berkshire. A series of live painting to live music sessions, artists' talks, workshops, performances and exhibitions, the aim is to bring together all the arts - a subject very close to Chris's heart.
An abstract/figurative painter working mainly from memory and imagination, Chris's vivid and expressive paintings are underpinned by strong drawing skills and a sure sense of line. Her continual etching out of a place for her visual art in the space between dance and music is instinctive and motivated by her long and constant involvement with those two vibrant arts. Think composition, colour, contrast, texture, rhythm, pattern - all apply equally to visual art, dance and music, endlessly feeding her creative impetus. No surprise then that she has studied Diaghilev's Ballets Russes' astonishing impact on the visual arts, her writings on the subject now held in the National Library of Art in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as in the archives of other major arts bodies here and overseas.
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.
Linking all Chris’s visual art is rhythm and flow. And now, coming to an end is her Rhythmical Horizons series of paintings, based on the pure abstraction of small random marks she first made as colour experiments, then amplifying and scaling them up into gradually larger images on paper and canvas. Taking forward this new development in her abstract language, she is now joining a fellow artist in an exciting project Feeling the Beat at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Berkshire. A series of live painting to live music sessions, artists' talks, workshops, performances and exhibitions, the aim is to bring together all the arts - a subject very close to Chris's heart.