Lonnie Holley

Images
1/5
Previous
Next
Lonnie Holley performing at Stone Nest, London, 2022
Biography

Lonnie Holley has been making art since 1979, devoted to a practice of improvisational creativity that spans painting, sculpture, filmmaking and music, often using found materials to relay histories that are both autobiographical and collective. His work addresses universal themes such as humanity’s fraught relationship with nature and technology, while also confronting specifically American histories – from the legacies of Jim Crow and the victories of the Civil Rights movement to ongoing struggles with racial and class-based narratives. 

 

Holley’s prolific artistic output has undergone a transformational period in its reception over the past five years. This reappraisal was spearheaded by a series of insightful institutional exhibitions, alongside an ongoing wave of journalistic engagement, notably including the 2023 Peabody Award nominated podcast, Unreformed, which laid bare Holley’s traumatic lived experience at the tail end of the Jim Crow era in the American South.

 

Holley is regarded as one of the most influential living American artists. His accomplishments in the past two years alone include exhibitions at Camden Art Centre (UK, 2024) and at both The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art (both USA, 2025); Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and the American Folk Art Museum (both USA); and the acquisition of major works by the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (FR), the Norton Museum of Art (USA), and other leading institutions. Most recently, Rizzoli published a career-spanning monograph (2025), coinciding with the release of Holley’s critically acclaimed fifth studio album, Tonky. Lonnie Holley (b. Birmingham, Alabama, 1950)  is signed to Jagjaguwar and lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

 
Bibliography
Works
  • Lonnie Holley, The Nine Notes, 2024
    The Nine Notes, 2024
  • Lonnie Holley, Without Skin, 2024
    Without Skin, 2024
  • Lonnie Holley, We Are The Seekers, 2024
    We Are The Seekers, 2024
  • Lonnie Holley, Her and Them Chained All Up, 2023
    Her and Them Chained All Up, 2023
  • Lonnie Holley, MONDO: The Property of All, 2023
    MONDO: The Property of All, 2023
  • Lonnie Holley, The Processor, 2023
    The Processor, 2023
  • Lonnie Holley, What's In The Spirit?, 2023
    What's In The Spirit?, 2023
  • Lonnie Holley, The Growth of Communication, 2022
    The Growth of Communication, 2022
  • Lonnie Holley, In America (From the X to a Name), 2022
    In America (From the X to a Name), 2022
  • Lonnie Holley, We Are of Many Pieces, 2022
    We Are of Many Pieces, 2022
  • Lonnie Holley, Tears Down in the War Fields, 2022
    Tears Down in the War Fields, 2022
  • Lonnie Holley, We Are of Many Pieces, 2022
    We Are of Many Pieces, 2022
  • Lonnie Holley, Hung Out III, 2020
    Hung Out III, 2020
  • Lonnie Holley, Her Steps to Success, 2020
    Her Steps to Success, 2020
  • Lonnie Holley, Chain Gang: Mt. Meigs, 2019
    Chain Gang: Mt. Meigs, 2019
  • Lonnie Holley, Repossessed by the Rules, 2018
    Repossessed by the Rules, 2018
  • Lonnie Holley, The Sharer of the Roots, 2017
    The Sharer of the Roots, 2017
  • Lonnie Holley, Busted Without Arms II, 2016
    Busted Without Arms II, 2016
  • Lonnie Holley, Three Shovels to Bury You, 1998
    Three Shovels to Bury You, 1998
  • Lonnie Holley, Finally Getting Wings For the Forty-First Floor, 1996
    Finally Getting Wings For the Forty-First Floor, 1996
  • Lonnie Holley, Not Olympic Rings, 1994
    Not Olympic Rings, 1994
  • Lonnie Holley, Him and Her Hold the Root, 1994
    Him and Her Hold the Root, 1994
  • Lonnie Holley, The Fifth Child Burning, 1994
    The Fifth Child Burning, 1994
  • Lonnie Holley, Spoons in Chains (I Wonder Which Child Didn't Eat Today), 1994
    Spoons in Chains (I Wonder Which Child Didn't Eat Today), 1994
  • Lonnie Holley, Chains of a Dummy's Body, 1984
    Chains of a Dummy's Body, 1984
  • Lonnie Holley, Reflection of the Way We Were in Blood, 1983
    Reflection of the Way We Were in Blood, 1983
  • Lonnie Holley, Ruling for the Child, 1982
    Ruling for the Child, 1982
Media
Exhibition walkthrough of Lonnie Holley: All Rendered Truth at Camden Art Centre (2024).

Video tour of the exhibition 'The Growth of Communication' featuring Lonnie Holley in conversation with Hanna Girma, Senior Editor and Curator of Editorial Projects at Serpentine Galleries.


Video of Lonnie Holley's live performance at Stone Nest, Shaftesbury Avenue which took place on Saturday 14 May 2022. Presented by Artangel and Edel Assanti.
Exhibitions
Art Fairs
News
Events