After over a decade practicing international law in London, Paris, and Leeds, Gillian Holding left legal practice to study fine art. Following graduation in 2009, she has exhibited widely with solo and curated group shows and been selected for a number of competitive residencies throughout the UK, Europe and New York.
Conceptually, she has always been drawn by the underlying dissonance, paradoxes and absurdities of contemporary society, and until recently her painting took a clear narrative-figurative form. Since 2016, however, the paintings have become increasingly abstracted-figurative explorations informed by global disturbances, with content and process playing allegorical roles.
The nature and language of painting itself however is equally important. In a world of increasing complexity and endemic misunderstanding, Gillian is excited by the universal language possibilities of abstracted figuration and ambiguous human form, and their capacity to resonate with audiences regardless of ethnicity, gender and culture.
