Robert Holyhead
dal 7/9/2006 al 14/10/2006
Segnalato da
7/9/2006
Robert Holyhead
Kontainer Gallery, Los Angeles
Holyhead’s paintings have a slight, but razor sharp aftertaste. They have an air of a witty retort, a cutting yet poignant remark; an answer, perhaps, to the question of serious abstraction.
Kontainer is proud to present the first solo exhibition by London-based
artist Robert Holyhead.
Holyhead’s paintings have a slight, but razor sharp aftertaste. They have
an air of a witty retort, a cutting yet poignant remark; an answer,
perhaps, to the question of serious abstraction. Beginning with small
diagrams, first in pencil and then in watercolour, each stage educates the
next by process of accumulation, dilution and consideration until this
history is finally transferred to the canvas.
Paired down forms sit alongside repetitive dementia, making Holyhead’s
paintings unique in their apparent resolve of empty space. In the very
essence of these refined paintings lies the almost intuitive ability of
creating a balancing act for our compositional sensibilities. They carry
the oddest of all painterly beauties; tottering on the edge of
irreversible disaster and then holding back with grace and poise, leaving
us in awe of their balance and focus, yet questioning their capacity to do
this.
This embattled structure demonstrates a potentially transgressive space
within contemporary abstract painting, and one that results in a
fracturing of both method and result. In a swift merging of colour and
mark Holyhead extracts sections of cut mass and carved lines to create an
informed dialogue between components whose territory on the canvas is
strictly predetermined. This ability to strip down the surface and its
forms to a raw and compellingly malleable process has become notable as
Holyhead’s characteristic approach.
Born in 1974, Robert Holyhead currently lives and works in London.
For more information, please contact Mihai Nicodim:
info@kontainergallery.com or at 213 621 2786
Opening Reception 8 September 6-9pm
Kontainer Gallery
944 Chung King Road - Los Angeles