Arnoud Holleman

Drawing is the engine of my life.
nl / en
#printed matter

Flaccid

Seven penises in various forms and sizes, 2002 - 2026

Black pencil on 9" x 11" sheets of paper, individually framed
Mounted on plywood panel in 2026. Background color: Farrow & Ball #314
First published in Butt Magazine #4, 2002 (Family and Friends)

Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Pastel on paper, various sizes, 2024

FGT's paper stack works are 'interactive, minimalist sculptures composed of large piles of commercially printed paper that invite viewers to take a sheet, exploring themes of loss, renewability, ownership, and the democratic distribution of art. By allowing the work to be depleted and replenished, they act as monuments to memory and impermanence.' Over the years I collected quite a few of them and in 2024 I copied them with pastel crayons, as precise as possible. For a better understanding of FGT's intentions, I give them away for free as well.

Platitudes

De Gids Literary Magazine

Every artisthood is teeming with platitudes. Repetitive anecdotes, topoi, that give every artist biography the same setup: he or she, always alone; real talent eludes schooling; thousands shouted out, only a handful chosen. Large or small talent, they all put their lives at stake for something that wants to transcend life. Art goes before offspring, reaches beyond death.

I Shot Madonna

media recycling

When she comes past I click away hysterically. Not even with the intention of getting her picture but I'm in the press enclosure and have to pretend that I'm a photographer. I'm so occupied with the camera and she goes by so fast that I hardly catch a glimpse of her. The print I have made is blurred. Also that night was the first time Madonna showed up with a black hairdo instead of her usual blonde, so nobody recognizes her on the photo.

Now

Club Donny magazine #1

What happens is that the grit under your feet mixes with the noise in your head. And in the monotony of the constant succession of footsteps, residual thoughts escape like intestinal slugs. Initially this is unpleasant. The physical exertion is a booster, the cadence of your breathing and your footsteps become the haunted baseline under the story of your life, as you recount it to yourself at that moment.

Re-Magazine

collaboration with Jop van Bennekom

Re-Magazine's great virtue is its willingness to expose sentiments that seldom find public expression, most often relating to the apparently trivial experiences and memories that make up the larger part of existence. Alongside this editorial idiosyncrasy, it is beautifully designed and photographed, each issue adopting a form to suit its subject - Emily King, Frieze, October 2003.

Tekeningen 1995 - 1997

drawings

Met een zweepje onder z'n oksels geklemd 'berijdt' een naakte man een op z'n kop staand paard. Terwijl hij met z'n anus over de paardenlul glijdt, perst een eveneens naakte vrouw zich met moeite in het poepgat van het rijdier. Om haar daad kracht bij te zetten, duwt ze met haar hand tegen een denkbeeldige muur - een muur die tevens de kadrering vormt van het op papier getekende seksspelletje. (Nathalie Faber - Het Parool 3-2-1998)

We

Kunstvereniging Diepenheim and Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede

The definition of the word definition is: 'the description of the essence of something in one or two highly precise and succinctly formulated sentences.' That is by no means easy, and we certainly don't pretend to be able to do so. Nevertheless, there are a lot of characteristics that we find interesting and that we come up against in wondering about what might be typical of the region known as Twente. But those things aren't so much absolute as they are relative.