In the art exhibition Vestigial Trail, we take a journey through the complex imagination and eyes of Jim Holyoak. He is primarily a drawer, and he works mostly with ink and graphite on paper. Diversity is a key component in the scale and form of his work and how he undertakes his practice. He creates … Continue reading “Vestigial Trail”
Walloways
There is a walloway through despair. The walloway is old, a tube of tangled branches, wrapped around a stream. You know its shape from an elongated daydream. You can walk there on your feet or on your hands, dangling from carbonized twigs or holding tight to veins of graphite. Will you feel differently when you … Continue reading “Walloways”
The Hills Are Shadows
The hills are shadows, and they flow From form to form, and nothing stands; They melt like mist, the solid lands, Like clouds they shape themselves and go. – Alfred Lord Tennyson, excerpt from ‘In Memoriam’ Taking their exhibition title from part of a Tennyson poem, the collaborative partnership of Canada based artists Jim Holyoak … Continue reading “The Hills Are Shadows”
The Who’s Haunts
* CBC video * Jim Holyoak and Matt Shane combine their complementary practices to create gloomy universes teeming with bizarre details and far-fetched ecosystems that straddle the unreal. ‘The Who’s Haunts’ is a monumental diptych that immerses the viewer in two human scale huts. Seemingly refuges for protagonists unknown to us, these dilapidated dwellings are … Continue reading “The Who’s Haunts”
Book of Nineteen Nocturnes
‘Book of 19 Nocturnes’ (to be released by flask publishing in Fall 2023) is a hand-drawn and assembled artists’ book, 500 pages long, 20+ years in the making. Each of the 19 chapters are hand-bound into individual accordion books, containing graphite drawings, watercolours, ink-paintings and collaged text. Both the text and images were developed while … Continue reading “Book of Nineteen Nocturnes”
FORESTRIAL BRAIN
*An online publication of ‘Forestrial Brain’ may be viewed here: https://forestrialbrain.ca Beginning on the West Coast Trail, Vancouver Island, Jim Holyoak and Matt Shane spent eight days trekking to collect sketches, photos and notes, with which to provoke their imaginations for an immersive, collaborative drawing that covered the walls at Open Space (Victoria, British Columbia.) This … Continue reading “FORESTRIAL BRAIN”
Impossible Monsters
‘Impossible Monsters’ was a week long, collaborative drawing workshop, in which participants worked together to populate the walls of Art City (Winnipeg) with as many monsters as possible. Key guidance was to work responsively, thinking of the entire room as one drawing, and to be unafraid to touch the work of others – to draw … Continue reading “Impossible Monsters”
WODWO
A collaborative ink-mural by Matt Shane and Jim Holyoak for the permanent collection of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. 60’x13’ on the second floor of the MACM rotunda. Photo credit: Alexandre Perreault. ‘Wodwo‘ (or ‘Wild Man of the Woods,’) is inspired by the poem of the same name, written by Ted Hughes: What am I? … Continue reading “WODWO”
The Thicket
(français en dessous) Following his artist residency in Mumbai (India), Jim Holyoak created The Thicket, whose title refers to tufts of vegetation or a dense growth of bushes or small trees. More specifically, the artist was inspired by the banyan fig trees that were frequent subjects for his observational drawings while in India. This tree often … Continue reading “The Thicket”
SUMARRYK / SUMMER DUST
Over the month of August (2016) ten artists from six countries occupied the Verksmiðjan art centre, at the vilage Hjalteyri, on the Eyjafjörður fjord (north coast of Iceland,) for a project entitled, ‘Sumarryk / Summer Dust.’ Responding to the site and to one another, the artists developed a large-scale, process-based, collaborative installation. The ‘Sumarryk / Summer Dust’ … Continue reading “SUMARRYK / SUMMER DUST”