Robert Holyhead

Robert Holyhead's paintings engage with the tensions between colour and form through additions and erasures on the painted surface. Accompanying a solo exhibition at Galerie Max Hetzler in Berlin, this bilingual volume presents a group of 15 new works by the British artist. Holyhead's freely brushed, intensely coloured paintings contain a set of elements - such as blocks, ovals and rectangles - that act as pins, wedges, slots, slits and focal points. Many of Holyhead's painted shapes seemingly float on the canvas and, in the artist's words, 'pierce the space open' for the viewer. Alongside full-colour illustrations of the works and installation, David Ryan discusses the new paintings in detail, concentrating on their 'malleability of density, opacity and light'.