Nicolas Holiber is a Brooklyn based artist who paints, sculpts, and creates public artwork. Combining found and reclaimed objects with artistic materials, Holiber creates contemporary objects that are inspired by the fragmented remains of ancient sculpture and the artwork of past civilizations. His art is characterized by its vivid use of color, composition, and line to produce multidimensional pieces that merge aspects of painting, drawing, and sculpture. I love this style, the fragmented constructed and textural portraitures + figuration, that depicts a strong characterisation and narrative.
In the work —This Land is Your Land, 48 x 36 inches, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2020. Suggested by the recent reading of – “13 ways of looking at a blackbird” no.2: Content arising from verbal supplements supplied by the artist. By looking at this, 4 people are composited, they seem like arguing, such as performing a violent act; expressing tension; and differences of the flesh. Is this a family situation, or is this applying the different social/racial issue? By reading his bio again “remains of ancient sculpture and the artwork of past civilizations” this further explain the painting is influenced by our social background. Is this related to the outburst of BLM?
Compared to this, I like another piece “Homeroom” 20 x 24 inches, acrylic and oil on canvas, 2020″ a solo portraiture of a really disturbing look of her face, staring at a fly on her fingertip, and a TV set and huge book behind her. This shows me a complicated emotion; boredom; frustration; hate; and the comparable size of the fly and her face. Is she thinking about “Oh, I envy you little free life.” is this painted during the lockdown, is she craving for the outside world? This resonates with me so much, and this is some kind of emotion inflecting most of us, i wish to create a memo piece for some of these feelings we all share.
https://www.nicolasholiber.com/painting
https://www.galeriecoa.com/collections/nicolas-holiber