Shadow Silhouette by Ash Holmes
Ash Holmes’ first solo exhibition in Melbourne, Shadow Silhouette at At The Above gallery, explores shadow play, reflective gaze and colour psychology – applying her wonderfully distinctive tonal palette to her layered and mesmerising abstract artwork.
Words: Hande Renshaw | Photography: Sage Hammond
Sydney-based self-taught abstract artist Ash Holmes is unstoppable. This year alone she’s opened a new gallery space, Hake House along with partner Jake Elliott, and also exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions.
Ash’s momentum and artistic growth is one that is truly inspiring – with each new body of work we can see her maturing and evolving as one Australia’s must-watch artists. In her latest, and first, exhibition in Naarm / Melbourne at At the Above gallery titled Shadow Silhouette, Ash explores shadow play, negative space and composition, weaving the effects of shadow line and story into her energetic brushstrokes, inviting her audience to embrace the shadow side of themselves.
The series was conceived from her studio in the Northern Beaches, a former warehouse drenched in natural sunlight, which filters through its expansive windows – the shadows and reflective gaze were a building block for her abstract large scale works.
Shadow Silhouette looks at the Ash’s process, where she experiments with new compositions and finds beauty in new depths. Inspired by Mark Rothko’s relationship with blocks of colour and dynamic line, Ash has worked on diptychs, creating works side-by-side but framing them as one. The intention was to create mystery about what is underneath the layers while balancing harmony within the spectrum of colour.
Each painting is framed in Tasmanian Oak and Walnut timber, setting off the concept of the shadow, in a range of different textures: painted raw cotton, raw linen, and primed lined in her distinctive tonal palette of pinks, sky blue, green and burnt umber.
*Along with At the Above gallery, Ash will be donating 100% of the commission on 1 artwork sold (130cm x 180cm) to the R U OK? organisation.
“The series explores shadow play, negative space and composition, weaving the effects of shadow line and story into the artist’s energetic brushstrokes.”
SHADOW SILHOUETTE BY ASH HOLMES AT AT THE ABOVE
FROM 17TH SEPTEMBER
198 Gertrude Street Fitzroy, Melbourne