The spaces in Robert Holyhead’s paintings
It’s tempting to follow the pink brush marks straight across Robert Holyhead’s Untitled painting from 2021. They overlap and change in strength as they go. Then a small opening of white interrupts them, and the space left around the paint becomes just as interesting as the colour.
The work is oil on canvas, although some areas look almost as fluid as watercolour. In others the marks gather more densely. One sweep turns into a darker streak, then thins out again, so even a fairly limited colour has quite a lot happening within it.
Holyhead has discussed the relationship between his watercolour drawings and oil paintings, including the changes involved in moving from one to the other. That connection is useful here. The brushwork can suggest a quick movement, while the white spaces give it a very particular shape. It would be easy to overlook how much those small white edges affect the whole painting.
The 2016 installation view from Galerie Max Hetzler in Paris offers another way in. Several smaller works can be compared at once: a curve, a narrow bar, a sloping edge. The additional paintings show how differently those decisions can work in blue, dark paint or paler colour. There’s no need for an elaborate reading to begin looking; a small gap beside a painted shape is enough.
