Lonnie Holley
Images
Biography
Artist Info
Lonnie Holley has been making art since 1979, devoted to a practice of improvisational creativity that spans painting, sculpture, filmmaking and music. Adapting found materials, Holley's works relay histories that are both autobiographical and collective. His oeuvre tackles universal topics such as humanity's precarious relationships to the natural world and technology, alongside specifically American and personal histories, encompassing the residual effects of the Jim Crow era, the triumphs of the Civil Rights movement, and the ongoing struggles with false narratives around class mobility and race.
Lonnie Holley (b. Birmingham, AL, 1950) lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia. His work has recently been exhibited at Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, USA (2022); National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C, USA (2022); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, USA (2021); Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK (2020); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA (2020); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA (2018); MASS MoCA, North Adams, USA (2017); de Young Museum, San Francisco, USA (2017); among many others. His work is in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; and Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Holley's first film, I Snuck Off the Slave Ship, (2019), premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2019. Holley is signed to Jagjaguwar, and lives and works in Atlanta, GA, USA.
Works
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The Growth of Communication, 2022
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No Respect: From the Front Lines to the Furnaces, 2022
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The Brown Child Has to Bear the Burden of the Blue Child, 2022
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Early Morning Suffolk, 2022
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The First and Last Score, 2020
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Hung Out III, 2020
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Her Steps to Success, 2020
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Chain Gang: Mt. Meigs, 2019
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Repossessed by the Rules, 2018
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Busted Without Arms II, 2016
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Three Shovels to Bury You, 1998
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Finally Getting Wings For the Forty-First Floor, 1996
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Not Olympic Rings, 1994
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Him and Her Hold the Root, 1994
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The Fifth Child Burning, 1994
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Spoons in Chains (I Wonder Which Child Didn't Eat Today), 1994
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Chains of a Dummy's Body, 1984
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Reflection of the Way We Were in Blood, 1983
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Ruling for the Child, 1982
Media
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.
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
News
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Lonnie Holley in the Evening Standard
'Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers at the Royal Academy review: an essential show' by Ben Luke 14 March 202314 March 2023 Artists like Lonnie Holley, Thornton Dial and Joe Minter are finally getting due attention, but this exhibition will leave visitors wanting more....Read more -
Lonnie Holley in The Washington Post
'Lonnie Holley always manages to find the beauty in terror' by John Lingan 10 March 202310 March 2023 The acclaimed artist is now a celebrated musician. His new album, “Oh Me Oh My,” is another cathartic piece of expression. When...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in ArtForum
'Lonnie Holley' by Daniel Culpan 3 October 20223 October 2022 You can learn a lot about a culture from what it chooses to throw away. In “The Growth of Communication,” Lonnie Holley...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in Hyperallergic
'Going Back to the Ditch With Lonnie Holley' by Colony Little 2 August 202202 August 2022 Calling Holley an “artist” only tells a bit part of a life whose epic origins begin in a muddy Alabama ditch. Artist...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in Artnet
'Step Into the Jam-Packed Studio of Lonnie Holley, Whose Latest Works Include Ceramics and Musical Compositions' by Sarah Cascone 15 June 202215 June 2022 The artist and musician, who has current solo shows at Dallas Contemporary and Edel Assanti in London, takes us inside his work...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in Art Monthly
'Lonnie Holley: The Growth of Communication and The Edge of What' by Sara Quattrocchi Febles 6 June 2022June 2022 On a Saturday evening on central London's Shaftesbury Avenue in the 'work-in-progress' venue Stone Nest, Alabama-born artist and musician Lonnie Holley sat behind...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in The Guardian
'Goddesses, she-devils and a tangle with textiles – the week in art' by Jonathan Jones 20 May 202220 May 2022 Lonnie Holley scours Britain for material, demons seize the British Museum and feminist fabrics come to Cambridge – all in your weekly...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in the Financial Times
'Lonnie Holley and the lyrical vision of the found' by Peter Aspden 19 May 202219 May 2022 From a tombstone epiphany, the Alabama sculptor has explored the meaning of art for decades — and adds music to convey his...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in The Guardian
'Takeaway spoons, solitary confinement and a nuclear camera: 10 must-see shows at London Gallery Weekend' by Skye Sherwin 11 May 202211 May 2022 Galleries across London will show contemporary art from across the world this weekend – for free. Here are our top picks. Lonnie...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in The Art Newspaper
'A life saved by art: Lonnie Holley on making work inspired by trauma, 'garbage'—and being stranded on an English island.' by Ben Luke 9 May 20229 May 2022 Known for his sculptures assembled from material other people might consider rubbish, the US artist will be performing his improvised voice and...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in Something Curated
'Interview: Artist & Musician Lonnie Holley On Improvisational Creativity' by Something Curated 9 May 20229 May 2022 Born in 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama, artist and musician Lonnie Holley’s interdisciplinary practice oscillates seamlessly between sculpture, painting, photography, filmmaking, performance and...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in the Evening Standard
'The best exhibitions to see at London Gallery Weekend 2022 - and it’s all for free' by Ben Luke 6 May 20226 May 2022 London’s commercial galleries are thriving and there’s tons to see, for free N ext Friday, the second edition of London Gallery Weekend...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in the Financial Times
'London Gallery Weekend returns to galvanise a city' by Melanie Gerlis 4 May 20224 May 2022 Alongside Eye of the Collector and Photo London, it will be a busy few days for art lovers. The first London Gallery...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in The Observer
'‘It’s like one continuous song pours out of him’: meet the shaman-like artist-musician Lonnie Holley' by Sean O'Hagan 1 May 20221 May 2022 The self-taught singer and sculptor from Alabama exists in a state of constant, spontaneous creativity. He talks about his roots and his...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in Apollo
'Gallery highlights' by Samuel Reilly 28 April 202228 April 2022 Apollo picks out four of the best shows at London Gallery Weekend Lonnie Holley 13 May - 2 July Edel Assanti,...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in Apollo Magazine
'"The truth is contagious" an interview with Lonnie Holley' by Samuel Reilly 16 June 202016 June 2020 ‘If you look at that piece of music I did about waking up in a fucked-up America,’ Lonnie Holley tells me, ‘it’s...Read more -
Lonnie Holley in Studio International
'Lonnie Holley – interview: "I started doing my work with a knife, fork and a spoon on sandstone"' by Elizabeth Fullerton 1 June 202001 June 2020 In non-coronavirus times African American artist Lonnie Holley might be found in his adopted hometown of Atlanta, twisting a piece of wire...Read more
Bibliography