Laurel Holloman, The Fifth Element. Vernissage in Paris.

By Giuseppina Biondo

English translation by Katia Smaldone

7 Rue Froissart, Paris. This is the magic box, the “boîtes à musique”, the precious figurative art music box which preserves until July 20 the artworks of the American painter Laurel Holloman, as a treasure chest that, once opened, reproduces the sound of the artist’s talent.

In a not yet nocturnal Paris where the Tower has not been enlightened yet by the evening lights and the Seine is still lacking tourists who just arrived, on Saturday, July 12, 2014 the Galerie Joseph hosted the personal vernissage “The Fifth Element” beautifully introduced by the winemaker Isabelle Van Rolleghem.

In the European city of Impressionism, of Bizet and Hugo, of macaroons and gargoyles, the protagonist Laurel Holloman, as the undisputed attraction that is collecting visitors from all over the world, revealed her excitement in being a special guest.

The works, arranged in five rooms, are divided according to the elements of nature: water, air, earth, fire. “The mysterious Fifth Element”, as Holloman points out, “is represented in the emotion of each piece”. Could this be the abstract and tangible creativity? The fifth element seems to be the very Creation: first, as a fertile act of the mind, invisible yet existing, like the air; after, as a concrete work subject to other emotions and tangible like the remaining elements.

To reinforce this interpretation there are some artworks such as “The Painter- The Puppet” and “The Fifth Element”. The first one whose title recalls both the painter’s figure and the puppet’s one, hence the artist and the creation, the author and the inclination for narration. In the second one another figure may be observed, apparently feminine, entirely surrounded by a whirlwind on a white background: the sensation of alienation typical of the creative moment is here clearly perceptible.

Furthermore, I’d like to recall below some works.

“The Reach”. One of the canvases Holloman first shared on the social networks which recalls and refers to the painter Fernando Zobel. The movement, the act of arriving, of running out: the warm tones and the way the color is spread convey the determination to pursue a direction.

“Into the Woods”. A blue forest opens the exhibit. In the first room you can admire this big canvas where you can distinguish trunks in the color of the sea. Could it be at the same time a falling curtain? Leaving the gallery is a little like leaving a theatre.

“Map of the World”. A landscape seen from above, a strip of land bordered by the ocean. A canvas that should make your head spin: if you turn the head to the left you can see a face’s profile.

“The Ghost”, “Lilac Wine”, ”Old Flames Burn Bright”, “New York, I Love You”. Four artworks which distinctly recall for style and colors “Red Rain”, Holloman’s canvas displayed in 2012 in her solo exhibition “Coeur Libre”, in Paris. In particular, “New York, I Love You” offers the vision of a living city, made of several forces but almost untouchable and elusive which scatters the gaze of the one who observes the energy and grandeur.

“Red Beach”. From a beach in the bottom, rising up to the sky throughout a landscape which leaves to each spectator’s imagination the possibility to define its borders. The shore, the sea, the sky: where do they start or end? Several landscapes can be observed, I will briefly describe two of them. The first represents on the bottom a yellow beach with immediately on its top, and in darker tones, a mountain view; the red sky rises up to complete the canvas. The second recognizable landscape is a yellow beach, a majestic sea in the middle which goes high up to a distant horizon where the sky has the same hues, slightly more clarified and bright. This artwork won my affection.

“Native Dance”. The game of colors and brushstrokes that Holloman played reproduces the warmth of far, ancient, ethnic groups and the movement of compact dances and joyful traditions, far from every time. The short strokes, almost fragmented, makes this canvas different from the previous ones.

Finally, I conclude with “Soul Chaser”, “Magical thinking”, “Unearthed”. Protruding and metallic colors so unusual and unthinkable to me. Resembling metal scratched alloy low- reliefs, these three artworks catch the spectators’ attention together with great curiosity and appreciation.

A visit to Paris could not start in a better way. At the end of this show you only need to head to the Latin Quarter, watch the bateaux parisiens on the Seine and reach Notre Dame, among the people, the jugglers and the striking roads of artists and men of history. You will be so in love with Paris that it will be tough to get back to your everyday life, as if you went on a one week cruise. Oh Paris, Paris.