Lot 139
ERIC HOLT (BRITSH 1944-?)
CARNIVAL FANTASY
Scottish Contemporary & Post-War Art
Auction: 25 August 2011 at 10:00 BST
Description
Signed and dated 1990-91, oil on canvas
Dimensions
91cm x 61cm (36in x 24in)
Footnote
Provenance: Garvey Collection
The Piccadilly Galeries Ltd, London
Exhbited: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 1992, no.1
While their vibrant colours and recurring motifs of play such as balloons and swings evoke the innocent joys of the nursery, Eric Holt's works nevertheless contain a darker undercurrent. While meticulously drawn (and indeed sometimes taking a year to complete) with a realism that borders on the photographic, in Holt's paintings we find a world of surreal
juxtapositions and a wit that borders on satire. In Carnival Fantasy, a cast of revelers gather inside a hollowed-out green pepper, gazing in inebriated awe and veneration at a girl who blithely swings above their head, while an elephant emerges inexplicably into the fray behind them. While perspective is twisted and proportion blurred, each character is delineated with precision, and flowers lovingly observed (betraying the artist's own passion for gardening). While something in this crowd of English eccentrics might echo those of Stanley Spencer, this disorientating gathering leaves us baffled and intrigued as to its purpose.
Equally inexplicable are the events which have led a pyjamaed gentleman
and his companion to seat themselves at a table to gorge themselves on eggs as a motherly figure bends down to replenish their already bountiful
supply, and behind a file of dazed onlookers forms a purposeless queue
stretching into the distance. Meanwhile, in Bishops and Politicians, Holt uses his clear line and vivid colours to criticise the authority of church and state, giving pictorial expression to the metaphors of 'jumping through hoops' and 'bending over backwards', while all the while an
Everyman figure passively observes the scenes, caught in the pleasure of a good cup of tea. Brother to fellow artists Ronnie and
Ray Copas, Holt lives with his family in Norfolk.