Artist statement
My work explores the gap between and interplay within purely sensory feeling and experience and more literal, rational thought-based experience and an interest in the validity of uncertainty when approaching, experiencing and decoding the visual.
Through intuitive and process-led image making, I create dialogues with material, sites and residual memories. This regularly starts from interrogations in specific man-made structures, buildings and physical spaces.
Exploring uncertainty and transience, my work is concerned with the actual fragility and transitory nature of what seems solid, weighty and permanent, both physically and also in the way things are perceived.
Using the visual language and formal concerns of abstraction, my resulting sculptural and installation work is multi-layered, often with uncertain depth of focus.
Solo exhibitions
- Assembly, Bankley Gallery, Manchester, 2016
- New Work, & Model, Leeds, 2016
- Only forward?, Piccadilly Place, Manchester, 2013
Selected group exhibitions
- Creekside Open, A.P.T Gallery, London, 2017 (selected by Jordan Baseman, artist and Head of Sculpture, RCA)
- Graft, PS Mirabel, Manchester, 2017
- Phantom, Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge, 2017
- Spectrum, PS Mirabel, Manchester, 2016 (selected by Mark Doyle, Touchstones Gallery Curator and Collections Manager, Lisa Denyer, artist and previous winner, Magnus Quaife, artist and lecturer at MMU, Robert Miller, contemporary art collector)
- The Manchester Contemporary, selected and presented by Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, 2015
- Tracing PAPER, PAPER Gallery, Manchester, 2015
- Open House, Federation House, Manchester, 2015
- Glitter & Gold, Cardroom, Manchester, 2014
- MULTIPLY, PS Mirabel, Manchester, 2014
- Winter Exhibition, Artsmill, Hebden Bridge, 2014
- Bankley Open, Bankley Gallery, Manchester, 2014 (selected by Kate Jesson, Curator at Manchester Art Gallery, Kwong Lee, Director at Castlefield Gallery, Chris Bloor, Co-director at &Model gallery and Peter Seal, artist and previous winner)
- HOARD, HOARD, Leeds, 2014
- Society of Island Universes, Piccadilly Place, Manchester, 2014
- Out With The Bath Water, HOARD, Leeds, 2014
- Artifice, PS Mirabel, Manchester, 2013
- Catalyst, Piccadilly Place, Manchester, 2013
- Saatchi Screen, Saatchi Gallery, London, 2013
- Summer Show, Malgras Naudet, Manchester, 2013
- DISTORT:WARP, PS Mirabel, Manchester, 2013
- Journeys and Migrations, Hand Made in Bradford, Bradford, 2012
- Reverb, Bankley Gallery, Manchester, 2012
- Northern Lights, Snug Gallery, Hebden Bridge, 2012
Residencies
- & Model residency, & Model, Leeds, 2016
- From the Rooftops, The Penthouse NQ, Manchester, 2013
Awards
- Arts Council England Grants for the arts award, 2017
- PS Mirabel Open prize commendation (selected by Mark Doyle, Touchstones Gallery Curator and Collections Manager, Lisa Denyer, artist and previous winner, Magnus Quaife, artist and lecturer at MMU, Robert Miller, contemporary art collector), 2016
- A-n Professional Development Bursary, 2016
- Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust Award, 2016
- Arts Council England Grants for the arts award, 2015
- Castlefield Gallery/ Creative Industries Trafford individual mentoring award, 2015
- Tracing PAPER by PAPER Gallery award, 2015
- Bankley Gallery Open Call first prize winner (selected by Kate Jesson, Curator at Manchester Art Gallery, Kwong Lee, Director at Castlefield Gallery, Chris Bloor, Co-director at &Model gallery and Peter Seal, previous winner), 2014
Education
- MA Contemporary Fine Art (Distinction), University of Salford, 2013
- Certificate in Art and Design (Distinction), Calderdale College, 2010
- BA Hons French Studies, University of Manchester
Writing/ press
- Creative Tourist - Graft at PS Mirabel, 2017
- Precarious Aesthetics: on the recent work of Holly Rowan Hesson – Derek Horton, 2016
- Made in Leeds – The Book-it List interview and installation views of & Model solo show, 2016
- The Gryphon – Review of Holly Rowan Hesson at & Model, 2016
- Axisweb – Five to Watch at The Manchester Contemporary feature, 2015
- Axisweb – Artist of the Month, Holly Rowan Hesson, 2015
- Corridor 8 – Review: Holly Rowan Hesson – Residency, The Penthouse, Manchester, 2013
Location
Based in Manchester, Leeds and Hebden Bridge, UK.
Contact
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