CJH.

CJH.

An exhibition of paintings by Christopher Joseph Holme, Artist, 1952 - 2010.

PR1 Gallery, Victoria Building, UCLan campus, Adelphi Street, Preston.

Exhibition: 3 - 14 November 2014

Preview: Thursday 6 November 6-9 pm

Curator tour with Q+A: Tuesday 11 November

Exhibition open 9am - 5pm Mon - Fri, or by appointment

Christopher Joseph Holme was a prolific painter; his artistic education began when he insisted on studying Art at O level, and his boys college in Preston offered no art classes. He attended the nearby girls school and continued on to pursue a Fine Art degree at Newcastle University under Professor Kenneth Rowntree. Holme then had to abandon his undergraduate degree in the second year, and continued to paint through serious bouts of illness throughout his life. His paintings, though not always comfortable to view as they often reflect the troubled worldview he was living with, display an extraordinary command of colour.

For this first retrospective exhibition of Holme's paintings, a small selection of works have been chosen that exemplify the fascinating iconography and sense of place that the artist developed and experimented with throughout his most prolific years, in the nineteen eighties and nineties. These paintings could be seen to communicate some aspects of the challenging mental states that Holme was experiencing intermittently during these years; whilst some of the chosen works incorporate challenging and disconcerting imagery others are playful, conveying a joyfulness within the same vocabulary of palette and gesture.

Information

This exhibition has been made possible by the kind support and encouragement of Holme's family and PR1 Gallery, and is curated by Lauren Velvick.

Christopher Joseph Holme:

Christopher Joseph Holme was born in 1952 in Preston, Lancashire. He studied Fine Art under Professor Kenneth Rowntree at Newcastle University, and it was in his second year of study that Holme first became seriously ill, and was diagnosed with and treated for Schizophrenia, a disability that would go on to influence the course of the rest of his life.

In 1977 Holme moved back to his family home in Preston, during which time he was painting prolifically. Throughout Holme’s life family members and friends would purchase his work and commission paintings which supported his creative practice, and ensured that he could afford to continue. Many of Holme’s paintings are on corrugated cardboard, or other such cheap and readily available materials, even cupboard doors with the handles still attached can be found amongst his canvasses.

During the 1980’s Holme moved into a council flat in Ingol, Preston, where he continued to paint abundantly. It can be assumed that most of the pictures we have by Holme were painted during this time, or were at least stored there. The subjects of Holme’s paintings are wide and varied, with some showing experimentation with styles, whilst others play with symbolism and narrative, however there are particular motifs that appear again and again; the self portrait, the city or land-scape and interior spaces.

Lauren Velvick:

Lauren Velvick is a Writer, Curator, Editor and Arts Administrator based between Glossop, Manchester and Salford. She is currently Co-Director of the Exhibition Centre for the Life and Use of Books, an artist-led reading room based in Manchester and Salford that launched in May 2014. She is a contributor to various local and national arts and culture publications and has written several essays directly responding to the work of local artists and collectives. She is also currently Web Editor for Corridor8, a North West based arts journal covering the whole of the North of England. Lauren graduated from the University of Manchester in 2010 with a degree in History of Art and in the following four years has taken part in and investigated local contemporary art and publishing, curating the exhibitions Sunk Costs in 2011, and Hoist by Our Own Petard as part of Free for Arts Festival in 2012.

If you would like more information please contact:

L.Velvick@gmail.com

A large selection of Holme's painting can also be viewed here: http://cjh-paintings.tumblr.com/

CJH

In February I initiated the process of cataloguing my late Uncle Chris Holme's many artworks, most of which are currently stored at my aunty and uncle - his brother and sister's - house in Preston, my hometown. He had been a prolific painter, but never exhibited the vast majority of his work, and suffered from health problems which meant he was never able to complete an art degree. Luckily my mother, Bernie Velvick and my step-father Dave Curry have volunteered to help, and we have been photographing, documenting, numbering, wrapping and labelling the works whenever I can make it to Preston for a day. Dave takes responsibility for cleaning; wiping each painting with a soft brush, and hoovering the back, whilst Bernie and I wrap, measure and label the works.

For the first couple of days in February I had been photographing the works, and uploading them to a Tumblr straight away; it seemed imperative to have them seen as soon as possible, when they had been hidden away for so long. The pictures were uploaded in a completely arbitrary order, which was perhaps foolish, but hopefully worth the trouble it caused later for them to have been accessible on line. Now we have begun to number and document each painting and drawing in a spreadsheet, with details of size, material and a thumbnail image, it makes sense for the tumblr to correspond. Thus, where once there were 90 images, there are now only 48, because that's how many we've managed to wrap and label so far, but with more detailed descriptions - the project is slowly starting to take shape and make sense.

At an Islington Mill Art Academy 'crit' on the 5th of April I presented the project, via the Tumblr blog, and three works brought from Preston, receiving some good feedback and inspiration for how to progress. It was really helpful to get perspectives and opinions from people outside of my family, and who didn't know Chris personally - I think it would be disingenuous to pretend that my opinions of, and interactions with the works aren't affected by, and interlinked with my particular relationship with the artist. It has been an incredible experience to spend time sorting through and interacting with such a huge body of work, and it can't help but feel like an investigation; examining each work from every angle to find signatures and dates, discovering pictures on the back of other pictures, and what appear to be acrylic paintings over older oil ones. Fellow I.M.A.A member, Rachel Newsome, who's writing evokes contemporary mythologies and fables, expressed an interest in writing an essay about Chris's work, particularly his many and varied self portraits.

In-keeping with the spirit of investigation, I'm hoping to compile a biography of Chris J Holme through interviews conducted with his Mother - my Grandmother - along with his brothers and sisters, and any friends that we can contact. I had been debating how to go about producing a biography, which I feel is necessary if the works are to be exhibited, and would make an on-line archive comprehensible, but which could easily be misinterpreted. I am hoping that by conducting interviews, and perhaps presenting them as interviews, rather than prose, I can avoid fictionalising Chris's life, whilst still providing a context for the works. Some information about the artists' life will, I think, be necessary to understand why the paint has a dark patina of dust - although we have attempted cleaning - and why so many works are painted on corrugated cardboard, and the boards that back sketchbooks.