Spotlight Artist Curtis Holder
![The Wick - Echoes of Eshu III by Curtis Holder (PRINT VERSION), coloured pencil on paper, 150 x 121 cm, 2024](https://thewickculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Echoes-of-Eshu-III-by-Curtis-Holder-PRINT-VERSION-coloured-pencil-on-paper-150-x-121-cm-2024.jpg)
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![The Wick - Spotlight Artist Curtis Holder](https://thewickculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Curtis-Holder-II-©-Cameron-Slater-Photography.jpg)
Holder puts this partly down to his process, which always begins with getting to know his sitter and understand their life. “I’m drawn to the human, the subtle and the sometimes under-appreciated areas of life. For me, the dialogue I enter into with whoever I’m drawing is a point of connection where we can share our experiences and emotions. It’s the point where we begin to make the work together.”
Holder’s first institutional solo show exemplified this: as the first ever artist in residence at the National Theatre, London, Holder attended rehearsals and was invited to witness the thrilling backstage world of the theatre. He chose to bring attention to those who aren’t normally in the spotlight. “I was captivated by the work of the backstage production teams: the hair and wig stylists, prop and puppet makers, makeup artists, stage technicians and costume makers. These are the unsung heroes of theatre, yet their work is the backbone of each production, from epic set builds to meticulously crafted props.” Over many months of conversing and observing, Holder produced a series of large-scale portraits – “a celebration of all the dynamic creatives who bring theatre to life.”
Enveloping his subject’s stories with his own capacious imagination and attentiveness, Holder is undoubtedly one of the most exciting draftsmen working in the UK today. And the medium, as Holder tells The Wick, “is my first language. It’s an extension of who I am. Being both dyslexic and narcoleptic, it’s helped me to navigate my thoughts, fears and feelings and to understand the world around me.”
About the champion
![The Wick - Spotlight Artist Curtis Holder](https://thewickculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Nina-Photography-X-Gaylene-Gould-22.jpg)
Gaylene Gould is a multidisciplinary artist who creates works that unearth buried stories in places, people and cultures especially those that exist on the margins. Her works are research-led and often participatory, making room for multiple voices alongside her own. She is drawn to public, accessible spaces. Her digital collage artworks blend found and personal images to create new speculative landscapes and symbols. Gould has been commissioned by the Tate, V&A, Clore Leadership, Selfridges, Durham University, Moderna Museet Sweden and BAM amongst others and is an award-winning fiction writer and broadcaster. She has created radio documentaries for BBC Radio 4 including Transcendence How Can I Feel Art Again. She is also host of Serpentine podcast series, Reworlding and Intimacies.
“Curtis’s work is extraordinary in form and style and also in psychological truth.”
Gaylene Gould
![The Wick - One Man and His Dog by Curtis Holder, coloured pencil and acrylic gouache on paper, 120 x 120 cm, 2022](https://thewickculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/One-Man-and-His-Dog-by-Curtis-Holder-WEB-VERSION-coloured-pencil-and-acrylic-gouache-on-paper-120-x-120-cm-2022.jpg)
![The Wick - Echoes of Eshu II by Curtis Holder (WEB VERSION), coloured pencil on paper, 150 x 121 cm, 2024](https://thewickculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Echoes-of-Eshu-II-by-Curtis-Holder-WEB-VERSION-coloured-pencil-on-paper-150-x-121-cm-2024.jpg)
![The Wick - A Reading of The Problem With My Normal Penis by Curtis Holder, coloured pencil on paper, 121 x 109 cm, 2022](https://thewickculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/A-Reading-of-The-Problem-With-My-Normal-Penis-by-Curtis-Holder-WEB-VERSION-coloured-pencil-on-paper-121-x-109-cm-2022.jpg)
![The Wick - Echoes of Eshu III by Curtis Holder (PRINT VERSION), coloured pencil on paper, 150 x 121 cm, 2024](https://thewickculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Echoes-of-Eshu-III-by-Curtis-Holder-PRINT-VERSION-coloured-pencil-on-paper-150-x-121-cm-2024.jpg)
![The Wick - Spotlight Artist Curtis Holder](https://thewickculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Brotherhood-by-Curtis-Holder-PRINT-VERSION-coloured-pencil-on-paper-150-x-420-cm-2024.jpg)