Holten Rower, Pour Paintings (2012) at The Hole NYC
When you think of prominent music biz art collectors you tend to think of David Geffen, George Michael, David Bowie – maybe even U2’s Adam Clayton – and definitely not teen heart throb Justin Bieber. But while Bieber tours the world, selling out monstrous stadium gigs, calmly negotiating hoards of screaming girls, his ‘art advisor’ also travels, to galleries, to pick up artworks we imagine will at some point adorn his mansion walls. Jealous? Frankly yes.
So what kind of art does the teen sensation enjoy? Well, the brightly coloured, appropriately poppy kind apparently – specifically a vast, trippy new work by artist Holton Rower that our spies tell us is currently on hold for Bieber at New York gallery The Hole. Rower was born in Greenwich Village in 1962, into a family familiar with the upper echelons of the art world (the painter’s grandfather was legendary mobile-maker Alexander Calder) and who surrounded the young painter in “a culture of art making”. His previous works have tended to be sculptural, but for the last five years the artist has worked in isolation in his lower Manhattan studio, perfecting the technique he uses to create a series of works he calls ‘pour paintings’ – vast, psychedelic, process-driven pieces created, as the title suggests, by cascading huge quantities of doctored paint onto plywood.
- Holten Rower, Pour Paintings (2012) at The Hole NYC
Rower’s method is structured and demanding – paint must be poured at a specific rate lest colours merge too quickly and drying time be compromised – but the results are unexpected and often dramatic. Colour combinations are premeditated, mostly, but inevitable experimentation reveals myriad new colourways, played out in fractious zig zags and waterfalls reminiscent of any number of different things – Rorschach tests, for example, or mitochondria or the colourful surfaces of faraway planets.
Holten Rower, Pour Paintings (2012) at The Hole NYC
One Rower piece alone is impressive, but The Hole, an enormous New York space able to accommodate a number of different exhibitions at the same time, is currently filled by 19 of the series, all of which vie peacock-like for the viewer’s attention. “Paint,” as gallery owner Kathy Grayson rightly comments, “is truly on parade.” Despite his age, and although he’s previously exhibited widely, this is Rower’s first solo show in New York.
“Holton showed one pour painting at PACE last summer,” Grayson tells Phaidon, “and a friend there told me to go visit Holton’s studio. He had a fantastic array of pours, and I offered him a show immediately. Thankfully, I have such a massive gallery that we could show 19 pours – the largest over 17 feet! – all at one time. It’s the perfect way to debut this big body of work to the public.”
Holten Rower, Pour Paintings (2012) at The Hole NYC
But wasn’t it hard to install? Apparently not, thanks to Rower’s formative education in the construction business. “Holton employs a great team of people having worked as the head of a demolition crew,” Grayson explains. “And he knows how to manage large groups of people to do big, big things. The whole show was installed in two days – we’ve got art super heroes over here!” Holton Rower: Pour Paintings in on show at The Hole, New York, until May 26.