H L Holmes

Artist Statement

My initial attempt to convey meaning through my art is through the device of construction, as opposed to deconstruction. My wish to have a dialog with the viewer, about what they are seeing is part and parcel of what I intend. In pursuit of that conversation there are three main props I use. The first one would be the materials themselves, (cardboard, bed sheets etc.) both simple in their design yet offering real, complex meanings hidden in their use by a society.  Secondly I would say the employing a form of camouflage, that is my technique of creating a new object from readily recognizable materials. This process I believe sheds a certain critical light on the materials that have been transformed. The third and final prop, possibly the most informative, is the subject itself. The selection of that with which gives voice to the other two (props) is the principle agitator will always be essential to the viewer.

The work I produce does have a recycle element to it as well. I use materials that have for the most part been discarded, or themselves been recycled from a previous use. This action for me is ultra-important, seeing the way our society is constructed around a one-time use mentality; this gives the viewer an alternative to that that narrative.