Ross Holden – 13 Million Miles (Diamond) and 300 Billion Years (In The Past)

After four years of travelling, Ross Holden returned to London, quickly realising the details of memories to be transient, and gradually condensing into a colour, a smell, or a sound.

A mustard-yellow from a hotdog stand; a strawberry-red and white polka-dotted fabric of a beach parasol; and a black hue brings to mind a kite swaying in the wind above the rooftops of Bishkek.

In Holden’s work, the reference to colour is used to recall experiences from the past. A simple hue can represent complex memories and feelings associated with people he met, objects that caught his attention, or a particular place he visited.

13 Million Miles (Diamond) and 300 Billion Years (In the Past) manifest a new series of works in his practice. Manually printed in up to thirty layers of colour and debossed into the paper. The conceptual idea for the works derives from photographic fragments which are then developed into the vision for the final piece by taking the most memorable colour from each photograph and filling it into a defined grid; as if breaking that passing moment down to its simplest form.

It was during his travels that Holden, unintentionally, collected the material for works . He actively looked for what connected us all; habits, emotions, colours, symbols, and eventually whittled each down to one or a few hues. The colour selected for the work therefore both speak a universal language, as well as having a very personal connection to the artist. Where others might just see the colour, Holden sees the moment or object in some of the colours: the orange hoody of the girl in Kyrgyzstan; the faded blue of an old sun bleached picture; or the seaweed-green from the big metal letters spelling “clothes” on a neglected sign above a street shop. Holden still clearly recalls the moments or objects represented by some of the colours, like the tobacco-cream hue in 13 Million Miles (Diamond) epitomising the air conditioning unit in Shiraz.

Medium: 30 colour screenprint onto 410gsm Somerset satin with handtorn edges and debossed
Date: 2017 - 2018
Editions: 50
Dimensions: 85 × 85cm
Sign: Numbered and hand signed