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 Bassett
Artist Talk
Solo Exhibitions
Selected Institutional Exhibitions
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
studio international December 2019
abstract critical June 2012