Exhibition
Roger Holtom: Preludio - Finding the Mu(sic)
13 May 2022 – 8 Jul 2022
Regular hours
- Friday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Saturday
- 12:00 – 16:00
- Tuesday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Wednesday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Thursday
- 11:00 – 18:00
Free admission
Address
- 40-41 Pall Mall
- St James's
- London
England - SW1Y 5JG
- United Kingdom
Francesca Fiumano and Andrés Clase are delighted to present a solo exhibition of a new body of work British artist Roger Holtom from the 13th May until the 8th July 2022. This is the artist’s fifth solo exhibition in collaboration with Francesca Fiumano.
About
From his glorious studio in the hills above San Remo, Italy, Holtom enjoys the time and space to create works that reflect a his deep connection with his musical past. Having spent many years as a professional cellist, music is ingrained in his psyche, and whilst his painting practice appears to be spontaneous and improvised there is a structural coherence to his work that provides the foundation for each painting.
Following the example of the preeminent Spanish/Portuguese cellist Pablo Casals (1876-1973) Holtom plays one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Suites for cello each day. The fluency he has established as anpainter artist is thus enriched and informed by the architectural purity of Bach, representing a unique form of research into the parallels between these two disciplines. resulting in a most rare capacity of interchangeability between the disciplines of painting and playing music.
The physicality of the artist is always very much present in Holtom’s work. Whether he is throwing paint at the canvas, distressing the surface or applying a wash, he paints with his whole body. This almost performative element of his practice, whilst private and conducted alone in his studio, is evident in the energy and power each piece painting radiates. In his ground-breaking 1952 article for ARTnow Harold Rosenburg coined the term ‘Action Painters’, referring to artist such as Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Arshile Gorky. Holtom’s instinctive and dynamic practice can be seen as comparable to this group, although the way that he marries this with a considered, structured and almost ritualistic technique locates him very much in the present.
Holtom’s work invites the viewer to enter his world and his space, encouraging us to see and feel the core of his essence as an artist. He is constantly experimenting with new techniques and materials, creating works that push beyond the boundary of the picture plane, with a broad variety of textures that is rare and striking.
Asked to explain the subtitle of this exhibition, ‘Finding the Mu(sic) Holtom states:
“How are we to name that mysterious quality which defines a great work of art?
Lets call it 'Mu'(sic).
And how might one invoke the elusive 'Mu'?
Given that I am also a skilled 'cellist, I thought I might try standing on the shoulders of the universally revered Johann Sebastian Bach.
Painting freely in response to the experience of studying and performing the cello Suites, I am providing a visual commentary which could shed new light on the nature of the 'Mu' which they embody.
And who knows. Maybe I'll end up composing a Suite of my own!
So, first (just like Herr Bach…)
'Preludio'.”
Roger Holtom, March 2022