ROBERT HOLYHEAD


ROBERT HOLYHEAD

British painter Robert Holyhead (b. 1974) works mainly on delicate small-size formats covered with semi-translucent colours. Most of the time, traces of brushstrokes remain visible and form floating geometric shapes, while some parts of the canvas are left uncovered and oppose an immaculate white to the coloured variations. The elaborated edges of the shapes play with the balance between negative and positive spaces. The intimacy of this gestural fluidity comes from a precise and disciplined process devised by the artist both on his works on paper and paintings.

‘I pick up on things that are a little bit peculiar and that exist awkwardly in the world, that are already abstract. It's much more to do with seeing something which becomes abstract in my mind over time before becoming a motif in the studio or eventually a gesture or form in a painting. I'm not so sure how they come in or where they have come from. My work doesn't have any particular reference points outside or itself yet external influences creep in as I make it. As such, my painting presents both a type of personal language and some familiarity with the world.

R. Holyhead, London, July 2010 in Robert Holyhead, Karsten Schubert and Ridinghouse, 2010

Image: Force, 2019, oil on canvas, 210 x 140 cm.; 82 5/8 x 55 1/8 in. Photo: Jonathan Basse​tt​

Artist Talk

Biography


VITA

1974

Born in Trowbridge, UK


1993–1996

Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester


1996–1997

Chelsea College of Art and Design, London


2007

Residency at Fundaziun NAIRS, Scoul


Lives and works in London, UK

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Arts Council Collection of Great Britain, London

Centre Pompidou, Paris

Government Art Collection, London

Tate Britain, London

YUZ Museum, Shanghai

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022

Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin


2019

No movement, no colour
Galerie Max Hetzler, London

2017

New Works
Galería Casado Santapau, Madrid


2016

Open Ground: Robert Holyhead
Parts Project, The Hague

Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris


2014

Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin (catalogue)


2012

New Paintings
Karsten Schubert, London (catalogue)

Paintings and works on paper
PEER, London (catalogue)


2010

Paintings
Karsten Schubert, London (catalogue)


2009

New Paintings
Karsten Schubert, London (catalogue)


2008

Components of a Practice
Gibraltar Walk Studio, London (catalogue)


2006

Kontainer Gallery, Los Angeles

New Paintings
Keith Talent Gallery, London


2003

Paintings on Paper
Viewpoint Gallery, Plymouth
 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019

Teaching Painting: Fully Awake 5.6
Freelands Foundation, London

Playtime
ARTHOUSE1, London


2017

Sotto Pelle
Annarumma gallery, Naples

Shaping the Void II
Tannery Arts, London


2016

Gillmeier Rech, Berlin


2015

Drawing Biennial, Tannery Arts, London


2014

Detail

H Gallery, Bangkok


2013

Stag - Berlin/London
Dispari & Dispari, Reggio Emilia

Drawings
Karsten Schubert, London

Every bird brings a different melody to the garden
No Format, London

System Painting
Construction Archive Lion and Lamb, London

Head to Head
Rogue Project Space, Manchester


2012

Revealed: Government Art Collection
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham;
travelled to:
Ulster Museum, Belfast

The Space Between
Tate Britain, London

Towards a New Abstraction
Fondazione MACC, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Calasetta, Calasetta

British Modern Remade: Style. Design. Glamour. Horror
Arts Council Collection, Park Hill

Government Art Collection. Commissions: Now and Then
Whitechapel Gallery, London (catalogue)

Phantoms
Angus Hughes Gallery, London


2010

Corridor: Jan Braumer, Aurelia Gratzer, Robert Holyhead, Jens Wolf
Oechsner Galerie, Nuremberg


2009

East End Academy: The Painting Edition

Whitechapel Gallery, London (catalogue)

Meta-: Continuities and Dialogues within Abstract Painting

Cambridge Ruskin Gallery, UK & Kingston University Gallery, Cambridge (catalogue)

Contested Ground

176 Gallery, London


2008

Robert Holyhead, Jos van Merendonk, Gunter Tuzina
Galerie van Kranendonk, The Hague

2007

Painting Unlimited
APT, London

Curraint D’ajer
Fundaziun NAIRS, Scoul

British Art Now
Lemon Sky Projects, Miami


2006

Abstract Painting
Kontainer Gallery, Los Angeles


2005

Acid Drops and Sugar Candy
Transition Gallery, London

SPACE OPEN 2005
Triangle Gallery, Space Studios, London

This Show is Ribbed for Her Pleasure
Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York


2004

Watercolours & Drawings
Flaca Projects, London


2003

Bad Touch
Keith Talent Gallery, London

Painting Year Zero
Keith Talent Gallery, London
 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Monographs

Galerie Max Hetzler (Ed.): Robert Holyhead, Berlin, 2014

Karsten Schubert (Ed.): New Dialogues, London, 2012

PEER (Ed.): Robert Holyhead, London, 2012

Karten Schubert (Ed.): Robert Holyhead, London, 2010

Karsten Schubert (Ed.): Robert Holyhead, London, 2009

Gibraltar Walk Studio (Ed.): Robert Holyhead. Selected Paintings 2006-2007, London, 2009



Others

Acme Studios (Ed.): The Fire Station Project, London, 2013

Penny Johnson, Nicholas Serota: Art, Power, Diplomacy. The Untold Story of the Government Art Collection, London, 2011

Whitechapel Gallery (Ed.): Painting: East End Academy 2009, London, 2009

Cambridge School of Art / Anglia Ruskin University: Meta-: Continuities and Dialogues within Abstract Painting, London, 2008

Fundaziun Nairs (Ed.): NAIRS 2007: Artists'-in-Residence, Scoul, 2007

Videos


Publications


Robert Holyhead

Exhibition Poster
2022

€ 20.00

Robert Holyhead

Galerie Max Hetzler / Holzwarth Publications / Ridinghouse, Berlin, Paris and London 2014
With an essay by David Ryan

€ 35.00

Selected Press


Mayfair Art Weekend January 2020

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studio international December 2019

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abstract critical June 2012

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