MISHA HOLLENBACH
Holey Hole! is an extension of the ideas and forms related to Hollenbach’s most recent solo at Family Gallery in Los Angeles, Do/No/Go Nuts!.
‘Misha Hollenbach has also dug himself into a hole full of mirrors. He reflects the world he sees around him. And for this task he ask you to peer through the ‘holy hole’.
The holy hole is an opening that literally leads nowhere at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire, England. Found behind the main altar, the hole measures approximately 100 x 30 cm, so to enter, one must get down on their hands and knees. Legend has it that St Swithun was buried above the opening; thus, pilgrims would crawl through the glorious hole to be under the presence of his bones despite the fact that they saw nothing. And maybe there was nothing there since St Swithun’s head went to Canterbury Cathedral and his arm went to Peterborough Abbey. And the shrine had been rebuilt twice already.
…Look into the hole instead. There’s nothing not there, ya dig?’*
* Timothy Moore, ‘Oops’, HOLEY HOLE! exhibition catalogue, 2011
Misha Hollenbach’s practice merges contemporary culture with visionary primitivism. Working across the mediums of installation, sculpture and collage, his work is driven by the notions of carnal desire and primal need: a return to the basics and (un)basis of human existence. Gesturing toward the legacy of Dadaism, Hollenbach reconfigures found objects and images to create new meaning through their surreal and often confronting associations. While continuing an exploration of the material processes instigated in Forewards (2010), the collages, prints and automatic ceramics comprising Holy Hole! represent a shift in Hollenbach’s imagery — from a subversive iconography of pop culture to a fascination with both epic and humble architectural monuments, on and in the ground.
As one half of the internationally acclaimed P.A.M. (Perks and Mini) design duo, Hollenbach has exhibited nationally and internationally since 2008 through his art/music supergroup THE CHANGES, with exhibitions in Mu Gallery, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 2008; Milan Design Week, Milan, 2007; and Zamiang Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, 2007. In 2009 he commenced exhibiting singularly, presenting his first commercial solo in 2010. For Holey Hole! Hollenbach will exhibit a new body of work forming explorations of the past, holes, donuts, archaeological ruins and found objects, as well as ceramic sculptures constructed through a process of automation.
Hollenbach’s solo exhibitions include Indispensable Duties, Y3K, Melbourne, 2009; Stool, Black & Blue, Sydney, 2009; Hot Yoghurt, New Image Art Los Angeles Project Room, Los Angeles, 2009; Reaggae (with Peter Sutherland), Utrecht Gallery, Tokyo, 2010; Snap! (with Peter Sutherland), Target Gallery, Tokyo, 2010; Forewards,Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, 2010; Pink & Brown, Seems Gallery, NYC, 2010; and Do/No/Go Nuts, Family Gallery, Los Angeles, 2011. Group exhibitions include Batteries Not included, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, 2009; ONESHOT WERKSTETTE, Dronning Olgas, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2009; why freak? mmm’kay, Y3K, Melbourne, 2009; Smoke Bath slideshow, 208 E., NY, 2010; To the road less traveled – wishing you love and happiness and curiosity forever, V1 Gallery, Denmark, 2010; Space Invaders, National Gallery of Art, Canberra, 2010; and Status, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, 2011.
