Exploring the aesthetic response lies at the centre of the London based art practice of Andrew Holmes.
His interest is around the aesthetic experience, human perception and a curiosity in how the human cognitive system incentivises the processing of visual information through pleasure rewards; which can influence our judgement of art.
The female figure has been depicted for over forty thousand years and has a constant narrative which compels the artist to continually explore ways of expressing such a familiar form in a relevant and appropriate language. In examining aesthetic sensibilities, Andrew's oblique portrayal of gender, identity and sensuality of the figure adopts a formalist approach, offering the possibility that the viewer, informed by cultural taste and their own world view, will respond with an intuitive judgement of his work.
Andrew has broadened this inquiry with an interest in the types of food often associated with sensual stimulation; and how this manifests as an aesthetic response to a painting. With titles often referring to love, desire and mortality, his still life works explore our relationships with food and plays with each piece as a metaphor for temptation and desire, some with discreet undertones of mortality or the erotic & sensual.
Painting in oil on paper, canvas, or wood panel, Andrew’s work is stylistically informed by the development of early figurative painting, with references to Mannerism, and his interest in formalism, visual culture and contemporary painting. Andrew has exhibited in group and solo shows in the UK, USA, international art fairs and his work is found in private and corporate collections. Curated exhibitions include being awarded the ING Discerning Eye ‘Meynell Fenton Prize’ and inclusion in the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology and exhibition ‘Future Now’ in 2020 and 2024.
After earning an Art Degree in Cornwall, Andrew worked in London from 1980 as a freelance illustrator collaborating on commercial projects in advertising, design, TV and film until 2008 when he returned to painting. In 2020 he gained a Graduate Diploma in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Arts, UAL.
Andrew lives and works in London.
Selected exhibitions
2024 Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition - group show & screening at York Art Gallery, UK.
2023 Seeds - Group show, 36 Minster Street, Reading, UK.
2021 Future Now - Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology and group screening at York Art Gallery, UK.
I’m ready to dance again - Group show, Safehouse 1 & 2, 139 Copeland Rd, London SE15.
2020 Showcase - online exhibition, UAL, London.
Anti-Rocket (virtual) summer exhibition - Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts, Chelsea College of Art, London.
ING Discerning Eye (virtual) exhibition.
Different visuals lightly touched - The Cookhouse Gallery & Triangle Space, Chelsea College of Art, UAL.
2019 Royal Academy Summer exhibition
ING Discerning Eye. Mall Galleries, London
2018 ING Discerning Eye. Mall Galleries, London, UK.
NEAC, Annual Exhibition Mall Galleries, London
2017 ING Discerning Eye. Mall Galleries, London
National Open Art Competition, Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, Southbank, London.
2016 ING Discerning Eye. Mall Galleries, London.
National Open Art Competition, Mercers Hall, London.
2015 ING Discerning Eye. Mall Galleries, London by invitation.
Panter & Hall, AAF Battersea, London and AAF New York.
Democratic Beach Jack House Gallery, Portsmouth, UK. Solo show.
2014 Panter & Hall, AAF Battersea, London and Singapore & Hong Kong.
Summer Exhibition, Medici Gallery, Cork Street, London
2013 Panter & Hall, Pall Mall, London.
Unix Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA. Solo show.
2009 National Open Art Competition, Minerva Gallery, Chichester.
NEAC Open Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
Awards
ING Discerning Eye 2019 Meynell Fenton Prize.
ING Discerning Eye 2017, Mall Galleries, London and SE Award for outstanding work.
Experience & education
2008 – 2024, Visual artist.
2019 – 2020, Graduate Diploma in Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art, UAL, London, UK.
1980 – 2019, Illustrator.
1976 – 1980, MSIAD, Faculty of Art and Design, Cornwall, UK.
Born in Kent, England.
Lives and works in London.