Holden Willard

Holden Willard (b. 1999) is a painter based in Portland, Maine. He graduated from Montserrat College of Art in May of 2021 and received his BFA in Painting, however his interests serve multiple mediums: printmaking, performance, collage & woodworking. His work is concerned with imagery that reflects the environment in which he lives. Being primarily a figurative artist he strives to portray the experience of the everyday - through the lens of friends and family. He is mainly striving towards creating a dialogue between the past, present and future. These are essential devices for him that he utilizes to create a coming of age narrative in rural Maine. Images from home, adventures of youth, fears and anxieties expressed through eyesight and posture - all in an effort of saying the unsaid.

Artist Statement

My work primarily deals with the figure and its interaction within space; my studies with observation are concerned with how my sight ultimately affects the work. I consider the ebb and flow that comes with every medium’s process, determining the best way to push my understanding of it. When I approach a piece I am mainly looking to understand and re-evaluate choices. The work is always in a flux with no particular attention to certain parts, rather - an awareness placed upon the whole picture. The paintings build an attention to the surface; its history and change is analogous to how I perceive people as perception is a consistent struggle.

Whether I approach the figure, or objects - the space in which they inhabit... I treat them with the same respect and attention. I consider how light translates to color. I try to interpret the heat that the body gives off; especially how that color can wash into the surrounding space and say something about the person. That notion is directly related to my interest in portraying how dreams might feel if you were to paint them. Passages of color are broken by line, as drawing is an intrinsic part of painting - and much drawing and erasing happens as a result. Ultimately the goal is to create an honest response to whatever I am reacting to.

I’m mainly striving towards creating a dialogue between the past, present and future - be it through the lens of family, friends and environment. In my mind, these are essential devices that I utilize to create a coming of age narrative in Maine. Images from home, adventures of youth, fears and anxieties expressed through eyesight and posture - all in an effort of saying the unsaid.