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- Patrick Holmes
Patrick
Holmes
Currents
Holmes makes larges paintings working in a tradition of figuration. His works are informed by baroque artists such as Caravaggio and Rembrandt. He works primarily creating multi-figure compositions which are often influenced by films such as Fight Club and The Deer Hunter.
He composes his works by creating a multiplicity of preparatory work. These range from countless small scale drawing and watercolour sketches to rapidly worked large paintings on paper. Holmes uses staged photography creates in a Rembrandt style and composed from movie stills. His use of interesting props, close personal friends and full frontal nudity created the interesting dichotomy of contemplative photography and adolescent naivety. When in the studio Holmes made the transition from oil paint to the much faster freeing acrylic. His paintings are worked vigorously over a two day period.
Through working in the consistent theme of male identity Holmes’ work becomes an investigation into the role of the contemporary artist. His work is a continually evolving corporeal corpus in which each new work adds to the knowledge and informs the rest. Each painting becomes a vestige of Holmes’ thoughts, instincts and ideas in the brief moment that the paintings were made. His work considers notions of a ‘coming of age’ and reflects his own coming of age both as a person and as an artist.