Ask the artist: 12 Questions & A Joke with Peter Holden
- Ida Victoria
- Apr 17, 2017
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 24, 2022
Ask the artist: 12 Questions & A Joke
Is an opportunity for our gallery supporters, friends and clients to get to know our artists a little better. It’s a fun way to get a glimpse into the personalities of the artists and at the same time connecting the artist with their art.
Hope you enjoy!!... Ida Victoria
Q: If there was a favorite work of art you could hang or display in your home, which would it be?
PH: I’m going with a Mark Bradford piece. Such an amazing artist!
“Fabricating his signature mixed-media collages with ephemera such as segments of billboards, flyers, and graffitied stencils, American artist Mark Bradford’s works marry his interests in modernist abstraction with the urban community from which he culls his materials. These ambitious, visually arresting works are striking for their simultaneous incorporation of physical remnants of a site and semi-figurative depiction of a scene or topography. Bradford is a recipient of the Whitney Museum’s Bucksbaum Award and was a 2009 MacArthur Fellow.
American, b. 1961, Los Angeles, California, based in Los Angeles, California” -https://www.artsy.net/artist/mark-bradford
Q: If there was one dead artist that you could hang out with for a day, who would that be? Why?
PH: Picasso, because I know it would be entertaining and dynamic.
“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward, you can remove all traces of reality.” - Picasso
Q: If there were a magic power you could use in your art making, what would it be? PH: None.
Q: If we were going to talk about your art, where would you want to start?
PH: I’m a painter.
Q: What quality in others makes you want to slap them?
PH: Arrogance and ignorance when they are combined.
Q: Art is so subjective, what kind of art is unappealing to you?
PH: Boring Art.
Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given as far as your art, inspiration or career? PH: Conceptual artists in the 70’s joked about this list but most of it still resonates with me a lot, I’ve passed it and the book it comes from along to a lot of people, including my own very talented daughter.
Sister Corita Kent, artist & educator, created this list as part of a project for a class she taught in 1967-1968. It was subsequently appropriated as the official Art Department rules at the College of LA’s Immaculate Heart Convent.
Q: What is most important to you…the subject, the process or the final work?
PH: Process!
Q: If your work was edible, what would it taste like? PH: Sweet, fresh strawberries. Q: What is the one thing you need in your studio to work, other than your art supplies? PH: Music and a cocktail, and ideally something to smoke. Q: What is your most favorite piece of your artwork on display in Galeria de Ida Victoria now, and why? PH: My favorite of my own work is probably that big blue aerial view called “Salt Flats,” because it has the flat vs depth dynamic working in a nice way and the palette is an Ocean Park type throw back
Q: In the era of the internet, why do you choose to continue to work with galleries?
PH: I like the personal interaction and I don’t personally want to deal with selling my work online.
Q: Now the best part, tell us a joke.
PH: When I’m not in a relationship, I shave one leg, so when I sleep, it feels like I’m with a woman. (Garry Shandling)
Why do I love Peter Holden’s work?
There may be no other artist I know, where process is truly everything. Peter loves to paint for the mere act of painting and he will paint on any surface he can get his hands on. He can have multiple pieces going in his studio at once, from very large works to little gems, and each piece goes through an evolution of gestural drawing & painting, compositional changes, color editing, tightening and loosening of line and stroke, each canvas is an experiment of expressive color, form, texture and what I like to call “drippiness.” He is constantly studying and looking at art from the masters of the past to today’s up and coming artists and everyone in between, drawing inspiration and knowledge from all of them. A painting can change drastically from day to day until he deems it finished. There is nothing shy or timid about his work. Peter had a long career as an executive in the music industry in LA and in Europe, but always painted on the side until he decided to change gears, attending UC Santa Barbara, the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in Italy and completing an MFA in Studio Art from CSU, Los Angeles. I have had the pleasure working with Peter on many commissions including 7 large pieces for the new Chileno Bay Resort and Residences and it was such fun to watch the works evolve, from sketches from his photos of the local landscape to the final drippy, expressive, “fabulousness”, that is his work. And on top of this raw talent, he is also super fun to hang out with!
Ida Victoria
My favorite piece in the gallery by Peter is called LA POZA.
A piece inspired by the estuary in Todos Santos. Love the palette and “drippiness.”
(Can I say drippy one more time?)
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