ICONS
C. Leigh Holder is creating a series of 33 icons of 'bigger-than-life' villains and heros. The latest in these symbolic portraits of freaks is an eight-foot painting of Frida Kahlo wearing a death mask and donned in 'day of the dead attire.' Frida will be coming soon...
LANDSCAPES
From mid-west industrial scenes, west-coast wharfs, historic bridges to Texas dance halls, C. Leigh Holder often paints on location to express the unique mystery and beauty of landscapes across the United States following in the Plein Air tradition.
© C. Leigh Holder 2009-2010
Oil on canvas, 40" X 60"
oil on canvas
"I like to imagine what the legendary villains and heroes would look like if we found them today under a city bridge or sitting in a neighborhood park. I think theyd all be freaks. Time has somehow softened their weirdness and dulled their colors. This series of 33 contemporary paintings will be a gallery of freaks that attempts to restore their mantle of glory and our sense of the uncanny."
- C. Leigh Holder
Tower Grove St Louis, MO, oil on panel
St Louis 2009 Winter, oil on panel
Tower Grove St Louis, Missouri, oil on canvas
Thailand, oil on canvas
Austin, Texas, oil on panel
Washington, oil on panel
"When I paint on location, I am looking to express the ethereal quality of a place. The physical dimensions are like iridescent scales that encompasses the greater thing that sits just below the surface of a place. I paint to get at that greater thing."
16"x36", acrylic and pen
oil
Pastel, private collection
Oil
C. Leigh Holder uses symbols to explore the themes of beauty, freaks and myth. She paints landscapes on location in the elements to capture the beauty and spirit of a place. She paints icons as windows to a meta-world filled with bigger-than-life villains and heros. She's still looking for the rabbit hole. the secret garden and the wardrobe.
Courtney's work is now showing at the Parlor in downtown New Braunfels, Texas. It also showed recently in E.A.S.T. 2009 (Austin, Texas) and in Ventana October 2009 (St. Louis, Missouri). Courtney formally studied figure drawing under Jim MacMullan at the School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York City in 1998. She also studied with artists Tim Allen Lawson and plein air painter George Strickland. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, she's sure to make it back to the city that keeps it weird.
Courtney recently moved to New Braunfels, Texas from St. Louis, Missouri with her husband Scott and their dog "Enoch." "Peter" the rabbit is the most recent addition to her art studio.
Courtney Leigh R Holder
Austin, Texas
"Other echoes Inhabit the garden. Shall we follow? Quick, said the bird, find them, find them, Round the corner. Through the first gate, Into our first world, shall we followThe deception of the thrush? Into our first world."
--T. S. Eliot, The Four Quartets
If you're interested in purchasing a painting or have any questions please contact me.
CONTACT
512.627.0779
courtney_courtneyholder.com
