Roger Holtom
Roger Holtom, a London-based artist and professional cellist, uses an unorthodox mixture of oils, acrylics, household paints and varnishes to create an exciting and very personal portfolio of effects. His work is both visually and physically arresting. Holtom manipulates his chosen medium to create abstract paintings full of wonder and awe. Are we looking into the depths of a dormant volcano or into the night sky? However the viewer responds to his work there is always a desire to see more. The tactility of the surface of Holtom’s work brings each painting closer to the individual. We are invited to experience each painting not just with our eyes but with our whole body. Growing up in a mining community in South Yorkshire I was equally enchanted by the bleak vista of slag heaps and shunting yards, the explosive drama of the local steel works and the rugged beauty of the nearby Peak district. Such diverse and contrasting environments awakened in me a lifelong fascination with their distinct visual grandeur and the range of textural detail specific to each. Since taking up the life of an artist fifteen years ago, my aim has been to represent these sensations within the confines of the canvas. Frustrated by the qualities of canvas per se, I now work straight onto board, the solid surface allowing me to develop a variety of techniques whereby I can 'work' the surface, building up complex textural patterns then distressing them with sandpaper, for example. Often I find that I am mimicking the forces of nature - in this case erosion or corrosion. I have always been interested in the parallels between the various artistic disciplines and a personal exploration into the visual arts has proved to be a refreshing complement to a formal musical education. Musical performance and artistic creation both require close attention to textural detail and its relationship to the underlying form of the composition. With music this is all carefully prepared in advance and presented as a transient experience. The gradual evolution of an artwork, however, allows one to stand back and enjoy not only the process but also a final result which can be revisited and appreciated long into the future. Working as a professional cellist has almost certainly affected my painting technique. It has been observed, for instance, that I paint 'with my whole body'. Whether throwing paint at the canvas, distressing the surface or applying a wash, I find that the best results are achieved by harnessing the power of one's core body-mass, which is unquestionably the case when playing the cello. I tend to favour domestic paints over art-shop standards, having found a wealth of unusual effects when mixing specialist applications ranging from rust inhibitors to wood stains. With an ever-widening variety of paints and varnishes available, there is enormous scope for experimentation, resulting in gaping fissures, irregular surface cracking or subtle fractal effects. An experimental approach is firmly at the heart of my creative process. Each painting is essentially an improvisation. A long-standing fascination with jazz music has taught me how the art of improvisation inevitably involves the use of pre-existing ideas and patterns, carefully woven together to produce exciting new forms. Following the example of the jazz musicians I so admire, I am constantly searching for new ways to expand on what I have already achieved. By working in this way I hope to discover modes of expression that are fresh and new whilst still fulfilling my underlying purpose as an artist - to communicate universal truths about our shared experience.
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