Ash Holmes

Ash Holmes is a Sydney-based artist who draws on colour psychology and her environment on the Northern Beaches of Sydney for an ever-evolving source of inspiration in her abstract paintings. Born in 1994, Holmes is self-taught, but as the fourth generation of female-artists, it runs in her blood. As such, she naturally reflects on her subconscious, inspired by concepts from an impulsive vision or an unexpected muse. Holmes’ paintings speak to whimsical notions of abstraction and the American colour-field artists of 1950-60s. However, the artist employs soft, muted tones and mark making and layers of oil and acrylic that reveal traces of memory that pose sensitive reflections on the world. Texture is built through gestural mark-making to imprint the canvas, indicative of time and place. At the same time, expressive brushstrokes narrate the artist’s experiences, where she draws on simplicity and nature. Often working large-scale canvases with acrylic paint, Holmes utilises her research in colour psychology to give the works a sensory effect — the harmonious tones of the environment connect her audience to the landscape she creates within. Holmes has had sell-out exhibitions across Sydney, Bryon Bay, Marbella, and her work held in private collections in Australia, New Zealand, US, Denmark, Canada, Singapore, London, Berlin, France, South America, Dubai and Spain.