Andrew Holmquist
Rob, 2010, oil on canvas on panel, 48 x 48 in.
Gasp, 2011, oil on canvas, 60 x 55 in.
Stronghold, 2011, oil and spray paint on canvas, 72 x 60 in.
Star Gazer, 2011, oil on panel, 20 x 18 in.
Fred Astaire, 2011, oil and spray paint on canvas, 30 x 30 in.
Between Here and There, 2011, oil and spray paint on panel, 16 x 19 in.
Artist Statement
My current artistic practice is organized around making small paintings on a daily basis. This process allows me to experiment and try out passing ideas that might otherwise float away. When seen in relation to one another, the individual paintings act as sentences within the expanded paragraph of the whole. Connections can be formed between the paintings that twist and extend their initial reading. When displayed democratically on the wall, the connections are left for the viewer to make and unmake. The daily paintings, and the trends between them, are the basis for my more elaborate and large-scale works. These are sometimes direct translations. The challenge becomes turning an inch wide brushstroke on a small painting into a two-foot wide mark on a larger canvas while still maintaining the spirit of the original. Other paintings are made from a combination of elements discovered in the daily series.
Moves and textures are pulled out and contextualized against one another within a new composition. My paintings take advantage of the viscosity of oil paint and play with the mercurial nature of a representational image essentially made out of colorful mud. I often choose recognizable imagery from popular culture or the surrounding world to act as an invitation to the viewer. Once hooked and reeled in, they are presented with a more complicated and engaging scene to investigate. Painting itself is often the main subject, as bright blobs and ribbons of paint sit on the surface and contend with the image they are supposed to represent. What held together at a distance now falls apart up close into a state of becoming or metamorphosis. Representation gives way to investigations of materials and the possibilities of abstract painting. The layered physical space of brushstrokes opens up a slippery fourth dimension where the visual history of how the painting was made is equally as recognizable as the portrait of Mr. Rogers.
Andrew Holmquist at Carrie Secrist Gallery
Leave a Reply