Jan Murphy Gallery is pleased to present Cut through the circle with Sydney-based artist Drew Connor Holland.
Underpinning Holland’s work is an interest in how we catalogue memories: in digital archives, in junk drawers, in our heads. Using screenshots as the starting point, Holland corrodes each image with analogue reproduction processes; the finished pieces reading as dilapidated visions of their original states. The images are then printed onto hand-made paper that Holland produces by pulping the paper-based ephemera of his life (old clothes, junk mail, bills, letters, earlier artworks). The resulting works occupy a space between digital and physical, and are equally anonymous and autobiographical.
“Every work is rendered as fragile; each differing surface absorbs or rejects elements of the image depending on their material qualities. Instead of slick and new their finish is battered and old — like a crumbling fresco or tapestry. In this state they force a gentle hand and ask for care.” – Drew Connor Holland, 2023
Drew Connor Holland (b. 1994) 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). Work has been featured in group shows 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). Holland’s work is held in the Townsville City and Maitland Regional Art Gallery collection.
