Joey Holder Born 1979

There is something both intriguing and unsettling about an imagination that is consistently drawn towards the ugliest and most unusual aspects of nature in order to inspire its creative expression. Joey’s imagination, and therefore her art, is exactly these things. Obsessed with nature’s structural diversity and the surprises it has to offer, Joey has developed an entirely imagined world of forms drawn from an aquatic reality, and the contrast between her imagined world and the real one beneath the waves often leaves the viewer struggling to determine where mother nature left off, and Joey began.

Like the life-forms that inspire her, the formations that grow, mutate and interact across her canvasses are not constrained by the two dimensional structural limitations familiar to us land based mammals. Instead they search in every direction for their form, rejoicing in their weightless environment and disregarding the oppressive restraints of gravity. The often humorous, almost cartoon-like quality in much of Joey’s work serves to distance us from, and yet also heighten, the sense of the grotesque that lurks behind her brushstrokes and often breaks through entirely, confronting us with images that are difficult to digest and yet always manage to retain a certain fascinating beauty.

Just as the forms she creates are unrestrained by space or gravity, so Joey refuses to stick to any particular style, preferring to let the element of surprise articulate the layers of paint and the colour harmonies and clashes in her work. The paintings always develop as a natural, evolutionary process thereby avoiding the manifestos and imperatives that could stem the flow from the imagination to the canvas.

Studied 2001: BA HONS Kingston University

SOLO SHOWS

Oct 2001 > ‘Sosho Match’, (Time Out’s Bar of the Year 2001) 2a Tabernacle Street, Shoreditch, London EC2A 4LU ‘Strangeness within Nature’, display of recent paintings.

Aug 2002 > ’The Foundry’, 86 Great Eastern Street, London EC2A 3JL
‘Alien Landscapes’ recent paintings shown in this Shoreditch bar and gallery.

Dec 2002 > ‘Seeing Things Hidden’ ‘The Arc’, Torrens Street, Angel, Islington, London, EC1V 1NQ . The interior designers for this new venue invited me to show my artworks to coincide with the opening of this restaurant and bar.

July 2003 > ‘Coin St Festival’ South Bank, London. I had a riverside exhibition, which was part of the annual arts and crafts festival.

Dec 2003 > ‘New Ground’, Mass Nightclub, St. Matthews Church, Brixton Hill, London SW2 1JF Brixton, London. Paintings were displayed as part of a ‘Jazz Now’ event held by ‘Art out There’.

March 2005 > New Paintings, Angell Sound Studios, Filmhouse, 142 Wardour Street, London W1F 8ZU. I displayed 12 pieces at this post production company based in the heart of Soho.

Jan 2008 > The Castle, Northampton. A solo show in this venue which is a theatre, cinema and arts centre serving the local community in Wellingborough and Northamptonshire.

GROUP SHOWS

Sept 2001 > ‘International Doodlebug Day’ Northern Quarter, Oldham Street, Manchester. An annual event where my paintings were displayed as part of an art, music and video show. Also performed live art installation that was filmed by LWT (London Weekend Television)

Jan 2002 > ‘The Media Centre’, ‘Molotov’ 131-151 Great Titchfield Street, London. Exhibition to promote myself and four graduates from Goldsmiths University.

2006 > ‘ARTKUDOS’ Short-listed Finalist for international juried online competition.

May 2006 – Jan 2007 > 'Dazed Gallery', 'Spunky' SP:UK Spring Summer Exhibition. (Clothing label) ‘No Smoking High Octane Art’ 12 Brunswick Street, Cultural Corner, Hanley, Stoke on Trent. UK and international artists show their skills.

15th – 18th March 2007 > ‘New Art Birmingham’ (NAB) – Art Market Over 100 artists exhibited across 21 specific and associated venues region wide making it the largest visual arts event to take place in the West Midlands.

5th – 15th April 2007 > ‘Art for Aid’, organised by JCI International at the Zuiderkerk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Artists from 40 countries were chosen to be part of a Modern Art exhibition in the heart of Amsterdam. A prestigious committee, which included Fausto Colombo, La Triennale di Milano and Helen Sainsbury, Tate Modern London, judged the works. Mrs Albertine Verlinde, director of Sotheby’s Amsterdam, then auctioned the work at the Grand Gala at NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky. All proceeds for the event went to UNICEF international.

Jun 2007 > ‘Cosmic Influence’ Caladan Gallery, Beverly, Massachusetts

Jul 2007 – Aug 2007 > ‘New Visions’ 181 Gallery, Canal Street, Lawrence, Massachusetts

Aug 2007 – Sept 2007 > ‘Beyond the Sprawl’ Gallery Launch, Octopad Arts, Royal Arsenal, London

November 2007 > Art Auction in support of the Medical Foundation, The Building Centre, Store Street, London WC1. My painting ‘Pink Sky’ was successfully auctioned and sold.

EXPERIENCES

Fashion Label Design: 2001-2003 Formed ‘ERBA’ clothing label with fashion designer Rebecca Simone. Created all branding for the range including logos, artworks, prints and promotional material. Sold in selected outlets across London including ‘Topshop’, Oxford Circus.

Music Imagery: Created imagery for music producer John Hendicott including album sleeve for the ‘Invisible Voice’.

Installation: Currently working on an installation project with VJ ‘Makemassair’.

PRESS AND PUBLICITY

February 2003 DRAPER’S RECORD - ‘In High Spirits’ for ERBA clothing label.

13th March 2007 BIRMINGHAM POST - ‘Take Stock of the New’ for ‘New Art Birmingham’

15th – 18th March 2007 NAB CATALOGUE for New Art Birmingham’s Art Market

4th – 15th April 2007 CATALOGUE - ‘ART FOR AID’

4th – 15th April 2007 DUTCH FINANCIEEL DAGBLAD - ‘Jonge ondernemers in de bres voor Unicef’

4th – 15th April 2007 HERALD TRIBUNE - ‘Art for Aid’

4th – 15th April 2007 AMSTERDAM WEEKLY - ‘Art for Aid’

28th Dec – 31st Jan 2007 – BOROUGH COUNCIL OF WELLINGBOROUGH (web)

4th January 2008 - WELLINGBOROUGH EVENING TELEGRAPH