Drew Connor Holland
Drew Connor Holland works with softly coloured imagery, often figurative and recognisable, printed on cotton paper that he makes himself (from old clothes, sketchbooks and discarded artworks). The colours and focus may be soft, but his subject matter represents dissatisfaction with this place and this time, art and history, and occupies a space between the digital and the physical.
Images of people and landscapes on paper that seemingly crumbles under their weight, describe an idealised, re-proportioned metamorphosis. His work evokes the current instability in western culture, with recurring motifs of cowboys, unicorns and text, often on backgrounds that are washed-out and barely there. He is influenced by “cultural nostalgias”, which he uses to achieve a shared virtual space outside history.
Drew Connor Holland is a New South Wales based artist who works on Gadigal, Gayemagal and Awabakal land. Holland graduated from Sydney’s National Art School in 2018 with a Master of Fine Art (Painting) and has been exhibiting since 2013 with solo exhibitions at Nasha, NSW (2022); Jan Murphy Gallery (2019); ALASKA projects, NSW (2017, 2018); and Galerie Pompom, NSW (2020). Holland’s work has been featured in curated exhibitions at the Rockhampton Museum of Art, QLD (2023); Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, QLD (2022); Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, CA (2022); Canberra Grammar School, ACT (2019); Sister Gallery, SA (2017); MetroArts, QLD (2017); and Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (2017). In 2022, Holland was a finalist in the Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship and was commended with a residency at the Shark Island Institute. Holland’s work is held in the Townsville City and Maitland Regional Art Gallery collections.
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