Portrait of Judy Holding by Michael Camakaris, Not titled 2014, charcoal on paper, 56 x 38cm, Represented by Arts Project Australia.
Portrait of Judy Holding by Michael Camakaris.

Judy Holding is a contemporary Australian visual artist whose works on paper, sculptures and installations feature rich imagery drawn from her surrounding landscape.

Holding, who is currently Melbourne based, has been practising for over 25 years and in this time has exhibited her work extensively both nationally and internationally.

In 1977 Holding  completed a Diploma of Fine Art [Painting] at Monash University. Since 1979, she has consistently travelled to the Northern Territory to observe and document indigenous ritual practices, social structures and spiritual beliefs. Her abiding interest in the landscape and people continuously informs her work.

Holding regularly visits the monsoonal escarpment country of the Kakadu region of the Northern Territory and her imagery springs from her lived experience of the mystery of the Australian landscape.

Holding has developed a sensual language of colour and symbols – a repertoire of shapes and signs for trees, hills, bottles, guns, rock art, burial platforms, dogs, birds, lightning, mining markers, anthills, clouds, lakebeds, spears, lotus lilies, stars, fire and universal female forms, that are repeated and reconfigured in suites of paintings, drawings, cut outs and three dimensional objects. Shapes and contours coupled with Holding’s use of loaded colour emphasis the underlying energy of the prevailing atmosphere. Her works are about feeling the energy of place; the distance and relation between places; and communicating the underlying force that exists within ancient Australian landscape.

Judy Holding exhibits regularly throughout Australia, and is represented by the following galleries:
Alcaston Gallery in Melbourne
Beaver Galleries in Canberra
Stella Downer Fine Art in Sydney

Download Judy Holding’s C.V here (pdf)

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Image above:  Portrait of Judy Holding by Michael Camakaris, Not titled 2014, charcoal on paper, 56 x 38cm.  Michael Camakaris is represented by Arts Project Australia.

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