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Reflections on Roy's work

“Roy’s work is often that rare combination of visual simplicity and philosophic complexity. His images expand in the mind long after they have been viewed and his enquiry invites us to consider the fundamentals of percept and concept.

There is a childlike sensibility here which makes play sovereign and elevates the notion of folly as a necessary response to the brutishness of utilitarianism and industrialization. What could be more important than play when it leads to some of the deepest philosophical questions concerning the nature of reality and the fragility of meanings? Roy was also a master colourist and passionate about the work of Josef Albers.

He suggested that art should offer ‘Objects of Speculation’ – indeed he viewed reality as being open to interpretation, in a state of flux, latent with possibilities and multiple viewpoints. In this way he challenged the concept of nouns as immovable things by introducing questions and new possibilities. After all, an L-shaped hinge can no longer function and in a very real sense it has lost its very ‘hinge-ness.’ These paradoxes act like zen koans, and in their contemplation we move a little closer to the true, ambiguous nature of reality.

Roy was a magician who took great delight in whipping the carpet from beneath our feet, showing us the insubstantiality of all these nouns and classifications. His work demonstrates that meaning is always a contingency, a flexible contract between viewer and object; that in fact, concept informs and influences percept, affecting not just what we see, but what we can see.

The viewer is encouraged to reappraise ordinary objects in such a way that their mystery and strangeness is rediscovered. This is sometimes achieved by removing an object’s conventional meaning; what is a picture frame without a picture or a straight hinge without two adjoining planes?

Sometimes the figure becomes the ground and the ground the figure in such a way that the subject is the background. In this way absences are created which present themselves as every bit as tangible as the presences we expect. He has left a rich legacy of work which is ripe with his characteristic passion, playfulness and enquiry. In his absence his presence is still felt. His voice remains very clear and his speculations continue to enrich viewers with their interesting paradoxes and new ways of seeing the world.”

Joanna Moss. Cohort and Colleague.

Contact

The majority of the work seen on this website is held together as a collection in Liverpool and can be viewed by appointment.

We would particularly like to hear from you if you own any work by Roy Holt that has not been shown here for the possible inclusion in a future publication.

email: info@royholt.co.uk