Artist: Holly Coulis
Exhibition title: Island
Venue: COOPER COLE, Toronto, Canada
Date: June 30 – August 4, 2018
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and COOPER COLE, Toronto
COOPER COLE is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Holly Coulis. This marks the artists first solo exhibition with the gallery.
Titled Island, this exhibition features a suite of new paintings that engage line, colour, and space as the basis of consideration to Holly’s study of still life and landscape painting.
In respect to content and composition the two genres blur together naturally. Grapefruits astral plane above tabletops as orange suns rise over a desert scene. Cherries reflect off of mirrored water. A balanced papaya feels weighted like a mighty papaya tree rooted on the horizon. Holly’s show title refers to the idea of a painting acting as a place of containment. As such the canvas can be thought of as a tabletop, or a separate world. There is an energy in these paintings that can’t be denied. Holly’s lines vibrate off the surface, challenging the two dimensional confines of her medium. Her imagery is abstracted, so that representational images of everyday objects can be read simply as geometric forms. Colour becomes paramount as does the space given to the shapes. These paintings radiate in a way that upends our preconceptions of the still-life.
Holly Coulis (b. 1968, Toronto, Canada) received her BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto and her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She had solo show at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York; Sardine, Brooklyn; Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles; Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, USA; Claudia Groeflin Gallery, Zurich; Groeflin Maag Galerie, Basel, Switzerland; Simon Lee, London, United Kingdom. She has shown her work at such galleries as Jack Hanley, New York; Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, USA; Cooper Cole, Toronto, Canada; Mikiko Sato Gallery, Hamburg, Germany; Anna Marra Contemporanea, Rome; Galleria d’Art Moderna, Milan; Galerie Glance, Turin, Italy; and Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm, Sweden. Coulis currently lives and works in Athens, Georgia, USA.
Holly Coulis, Island, 2018, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Holly Coulis, Island, 2018, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Holly Coulis, Papaya, Balanced, 2018, Oil on linen, 25.1 x 30 in (63.8 x 76.2 cm)
Holly Coulis, Island, 2018, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Holly Coulis, Oranges, Mushrooms, Pink Table, 2018, Gouache on Arches paper, 18 x 24 in (45.7 x 61 cm)
Holly Coulis, Lemon and Glass in Front, 2018, Gouache on Arches paper, 18 x 24 in (45.7 x 61 cm)
Holly Coulis, Drinks and Lemon, 2018, Gouache on Arches on paper, 18 x 24 in (45.7 x 61 cm)
Holly Coulis, Bread, Cheese, and Citrus, 2018, Gouache on Arches paper, 18 x 24 in (45.7 x 61 cm)
Holly Coulis, Island, 2018, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Holly Coulis, Tables and Gravy, 2018, Oil on linen, 25.1 x 30 in (63.8 x 76.2 cm)
Holly Coulis, Island, 2018, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Holly Coulis, Tables and Chartreuse, 2018, Oil on linen, 20 x 24 in (50.8 x 61 cm)
Holly Coulis, Midnight Pour, 2018, Oil on linen, 20 x 24 in (50.8 x 61 cm)
Holly Coulis, Landscapes and Citruses, 2018, Oil on linen, 20 x 24 in (50.8 x 61 cm)
Holly Coulis, Island, 2018, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Holly Coulis, Island, 2018, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Holly Coulis, Scene with Pear and Cherry Reflections, 2018, Gouache on Arches on paper, 18 x 24 in (45.7 x 61 cm)
Holly Coulis, Island, 2018, exhibition view, COOPER COLE, Toronto
Holly Coulis, Blue, Dishes, 2018, Oil on linen, 16.1 x 18.1 in (41 x 46 cm)
