CHRISTIAN HOLSTAD

Craftwork, and the use of everyday materials, are central to Holstad's practice. Labour-intensive, often collaborative techniques such as sewing, knitting and crocheting feature strongly in his work, embodying his interest in the tactile object and its ability to convey sensuality and comfort while resisting the increasing 'virtuality' of contemporary life. Like the majority of his works, be they drawings, collages or soft, sculptural forms, The Brain Quilt is imbued with a distinctly personal aesthetic symptomatic of a close physical and emotional relationship with its maker. The coloured and colourless forms seem to suggest the vagaries of human memory, or the contrasting sentiments at play in one's mind.

Defending Decisions

2005
pencil on newspaper

13 x 18 cm

These seven works on paper belong to an ongoing series known as the 'Eraserhead' drawings. Ordinary black-and-white photographs are cut from newspapers; leaving large parts untouched, Holstad carefully erases the ink from other areas to create ghostly, ambiguous voids, rendering their subjects – political figures, landscapes, interiors – deformed and isolated. In their place, details are added in pencil to contort, warp and dramatically recontextualize the original image. This technique, married to the scale and fragile nature of the works, generates a tremendous and highly personal pathos, evoking feelings of loss and fear, and threatening our faith in and experience of media imagery.

Grasping for Straws

2005

pencil on newspaper

13.5 x 19 cm

Held Hearts and Bated Breath

2005

pencil on newspaper

15.5 x 23 cm

Media Talk

2005

pencil on newspaper

24 x 23 cm

Under Development

2005
pencil on newspaper
24 x 23 cm

A Sacrifice on a Volcano

2004

pencil on newspaper

16.5 x 26.5 cm

A Slide of Hands

2004
pencil on newspaper
22 x 33.5 cm

Members of Leather Beach hold a "meet n greet" to discuss the daily agenda ( on a reproduction mission)

2006
Hemp, archival handmade paper, acid neutralized wood veneer, and color. xeroxes on archival museum board

Members of Leather Beach hold a "meet n greet" to discuss the daily agenda ( on a reproduction mission)

(Panel 1, 2, 3)

2006
Hemp, archival handmade paper, acid neutralized wood veneer, and color. xeroxes on archival museum board

Panel 1: 101.6 x 76.2 cm
Panel 2: 101.6 x 152.4 cm
Panel 3: 101.6 x 76.2 cm

House Training # 5 (Flowers)

2006
Wool, leather, polyester, rubber, chicken wire, wood, linen, tie
81.3 x 38.1 x 43.2 cm

House Training # 6 (Dancing Goats)

2006
Wool, leather, polyester, rubber, chicken wire, wood, linen, tie
100.3 x 40.6 x 50.8 cm

House Training # 12 (Flowers)

2006
Wool, leather, polyester, rubber, mohair, chicken wire, wood, tie
96.5 x 40.6 x 50.8 cm

House Training # 20 (Dancing Goats)

2006
Wool, leather, polyester, rubber, foam, linen, tie
101.6 x 45.7 x 48.3 cm

Cacoon
(and 2 details)

2007
Vintage aluminium lawn chair, paint, 2xist underwear elastic, vintage mohair sweater, xerox transfers, wool felt, vintage exercise boots, sand
91.4 x 66 x 109.5 cm