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Lot Essay
Colour and light are always the driving factors in my work, and my body is the conceptual length that brings the viewer in and keeps me engaged. Loie Hollowell
Keen to disrupt the status quo, Loie Hollowell delivers a nuanced and powerful take on the place of womanhood in the sphere of abstract art. Standing in a Desert is an emphatic exploration of the artist’s sense of self which also alludes to the oft-sidelined place of female artists within the evolution of abstraction. Harnessing an in-depth knowledge of color in her signature low-relief paintings, Hollowell builds a personal narrative within a more universal, esoteric structure. Glowing orbs and halos are intimations of her own lived experiences that resonate within a larger conversation about the relationship between humanity and the universe. “Colour and light are always the driving factors in my work”, explains Hollowell, “and my body is the conceptual length that brings the viewer in and keeps me engaged” (L. Hollowell, quoted in E. Spicer, “Loie Hollowell: Dominant/Recessive”, Studio International, September 11, 2018). Using geometric forms and painterly depictions of mystical auras, the artist creates a link between the cosmic nature of light and the earthly state of the human body.
Exhilarating in its ability to capture and hold light, Standing in a Desert is a clear example of Hollowell’s body of work that stemmed from her own pregnancies as well as her interest in the convergence of ethereal and earthly realms. Realized as both abstract self-portraits and an exploration of the physical sensation of giving birth, these mystic configurations transform the female body in radiant spheres that swirl and pulse within the confines of the frame. At the top, an oval form represents the head, its glowing edge and echoes extending horizontally reminiscent of Medieval mandorlas around depictions of the Virgin Mary. Beneath it, a singular divide stretches across the work while another extends downwards and bisects the piece in two vertically. Constructed from high-density foam, an arrangement of half spheres creates the illusion of a line, their flat inner faces casting an orange glow upon the rest of the work. This stack of shapes is representative of the body as it moves in space. Several interlocking circular forms spin with these sculptural elements like traces of their orbit in space. The use of sandy brown and yellow helps to lock in the allusion to the desert. Still, Hollowell’s composition has more in common with the mystic abstractions of Hilma af Klint or Agnes Pelton than any representational view of a woman standing amidst the sagebrush.
Hollowell has created a specific iconography from this heady amalgam, drawing upon her own personal experiences as much as the history of art and metaphysical structures. Often combining references to landscape and anatomy, her work retains allusions to the magical glow of light on the West Coast where she grew up. “I’m actually from outside San Francisco”, she explains, “and that Californian light is something really special, like what O’Keeffe experienced in New Mexico and translated into her paintings. A lot of my colours – these bright, bold colours – come from embracing my Californian childhood” (L. Hollowell, quoted in H. Black, “Loie Hollowell: Fluorescent Light & Full Bellies”, Elephant, June 21, 2019). Along with artists like Judy Chicago and Salvador Dalí, O’Keeffe serves as an important antecedent to Hollowell’s visual language as her revolutionary mixture of natural and feminine imagery set the stage for a new exploration of the body. To the mix Hollowell also adds references to Neo-Tantric art and the Light and Space movement as she fuses these abstracted forms with an inner brilliance drawn from her expert juxtaposition of vibrant hues.
Hollowell’s use of sculptural elements in works like Standing in a Desert further emphasize her ability to control the effects of light both in and on the canvas. Using foam and acrylic medium, she builds up the surface of the work to obtain a literal dimensionality that creates small changes in the work depending on the viewer’s angle. So too does it affect the ability for light to reflect off of the surfaces and create visual relationships between the various planes of the piece. “I come out of the tradition of American abstract expressionism, minimalism and color theory. And there’s the school that comes out of Josef Albers when he came to the States. I think that’s the conversation I’m coming from, and for me that’s a very corporeal conversation, a more phenomenological experience” (L. Hollowell, quoted in E. Spicer, op. cit.). Translating the two-dimensional study of color into three-dimensional space, Hollowell opens up a new understanding of the relationship between light and the observable spectrum. In turn, this allows the viewers to more aptly align themselves with the energy of her works and enter a new realm of visual experience.
Keen to disrupt the status quo, Loie Hollowell delivers a nuanced and powerful take on the place of womanhood in the sphere of abstract art. Standing in a Desert is an emphatic exploration of the artist’s sense of self which also alludes to the oft-sidelined place of female artists within the evolution of abstraction. Harnessing an in-depth knowledge of color in her signature low-relief paintings, Hollowell builds a personal narrative within a more universal, esoteric structure. Glowing orbs and halos are intimations of her own lived experiences that resonate within a larger conversation about the relationship between humanity and the universe. “Colour and light are always the driving factors in my work”, explains Hollowell, “and my body is the conceptual length that brings the viewer in and keeps me engaged” (L. Hollowell, quoted in E. Spicer, “Loie Hollowell: Dominant/Recessive”, Studio International, September 11, 2018). Using geometric forms and painterly depictions of mystical auras, the artist creates a link between the cosmic nature of light and the earthly state of the human body.
Exhilarating in its ability to capture and hold light, Standing in a Desert is a clear example of Hollowell’s body of work that stemmed from her own pregnancies as well as her interest in the convergence of ethereal and earthly realms. Realized as both abstract self-portraits and an exploration of the physical sensation of giving birth, these mystic configurations transform the female body in radiant spheres that swirl and pulse within the confines of the frame. At the top, an oval form represents the head, its glowing edge and echoes extending horizontally reminiscent of Medieval mandorlas around depictions of the Virgin Mary. Beneath it, a singular divide stretches across the work while another extends downwards and bisects the piece in two vertically. Constructed from high-density foam, an arrangement of half spheres creates the illusion of a line, their flat inner faces casting an orange glow upon the rest of the work. This stack of shapes is representative of the body as it moves in space. Several interlocking circular forms spin with these sculptural elements like traces of their orbit in space. The use of sandy brown and yellow helps to lock in the allusion to the desert. Still, Hollowell’s composition has more in common with the mystic abstractions of Hilma af Klint or Agnes Pelton than any representational view of a woman standing amidst the sagebrush.
Hollowell has created a specific iconography from this heady amalgam, drawing upon her own personal experiences as much as the history of art and metaphysical structures. Often combining references to landscape and anatomy, her work retains allusions to the magical glow of light on the West Coast where she grew up. “I’m actually from outside San Francisco”, she explains, “and that Californian light is something really special, like what O’Keeffe experienced in New Mexico and translated into her paintings. A lot of my colours – these bright, bold colours – come from embracing my Californian childhood” (L. Hollowell, quoted in H. Black, “Loie Hollowell: Fluorescent Light & Full Bellies”, Elephant, June 21, 2019). Along with artists like Judy Chicago and Salvador Dalí, O’Keeffe serves as an important antecedent to Hollowell’s visual language as her revolutionary mixture of natural and feminine imagery set the stage for a new exploration of the body. To the mix Hollowell also adds references to Neo-Tantric art and the Light and Space movement as she fuses these abstracted forms with an inner brilliance drawn from her expert juxtaposition of vibrant hues.
Hollowell’s use of sculptural elements in works like Standing in a Desert further emphasize her ability to control the effects of light both in and on the canvas. Using foam and acrylic medium, she builds up the surface of the work to obtain a literal dimensionality that creates small changes in the work depending on the viewer’s angle. So too does it affect the ability for light to reflect off of the surfaces and create visual relationships between the various planes of the piece. “I come out of the tradition of American abstract expressionism, minimalism and color theory. And there’s the school that comes out of Josef Albers when he came to the States. I think that’s the conversation I’m coming from, and for me that’s a very corporeal conversation, a more phenomenological experience” (L. Hollowell, quoted in E. Spicer, op. cit.). Translating the two-dimensional study of color into three-dimensional space, Hollowell opens up a new understanding of the relationship between light and the observable spectrum. In turn, this allows the viewers to more aptly align themselves with the energy of her works and enter a new realm of visual experience.