The hidden world of monsters and imagination titled Lycanthrope is the latest exhibition by artist Jim Holyoak at Galerie Donald Browne from January 12^th through to March 2^nd, 2013.

When asked about his work, Holyoak has clearly stated that he does not like to have a particular thesis to his work. Holyoak drives home this point by saying “thesis statements strive to focus, to clarify and to prove a point. My anxiety around such declaration is that they may be deflections/evasions from the very confusion, chaos and libidinous complexity of things.”

The exhibit consists of a series of ink drawings on paper of varying sizes, personal letters and newspaper clippings. There is also large set of paper murals saturated with ink which display drawings of trees of different sizes. Added to the murals are round cutouts pasted throughout the exhibit in the shape of tree stumps.  These slices are like floating bubbles which gives texture to the murals. I was particularly impressed with the representation of trees in a perspective that mimics the experience of walking in the woods. I also appreciate Holyoak’s delicately drawn figures, a direct influence of his apprenticeship in 2007 with master ink painter, Shen Ling Xiang inYangshuo,China.

A majority of the work is dedicated to the representation of a variety of animals both real and imaginary that exist in a forest setting. Holoyak is particularly fond of bats as they are often associated with the twilight world, which is a running theme in his work. Imagination is not merely a diversion of the logical mind but acts as a bridge between this world and the natural world. In going across that bridge, Holyoak tries to capture the transition from the human to the animal.

“When I draw pictures I draw a lot of animals, and this is my way of imagining what it would be like to have a different body than my own. I want to know what it’s like to be something else, somewhere else, sensing and knowing different things” says Holyoak and by way of his work, he has accomplished exactly that employing the technique of body printing.

In one of his prints, he used his face, arm and stomach to leave an impression on paper and later goes on to fill in the image with a picture of a wolf. It is this wolf, a shadow wolf speaking from another dimension that is represented in a poem written on the wall as one enters the gallery. In another example, he used a print of his tongue to draw a shape of a snake and his feet to create an imaginary animal with human features.

Holyoak works extensively in black, white and grey and finds that colour distracts from the tone in his work. Holyoak states that he is very light sensitive and for this reason cherishes rainy Salt Spring Island, BC, which is where he grew up as a young teenager. He is very fond of rain, snow, fog and the night, and so for him it makes sense to limit himself to this palette, and to emphasize the stark contrast between light and shadow, the seen and unseen.

The show Lycanthrope is both haunting with the heavy use of black ink but is still rather whimsical, as the artist introduces the viewer to a set of fantastical animals in various states of transformation. A show not to be missed!

Galerie Donald Browne, space 528
Jim Holyoak
Lycanthrope
January 12 – March 2, 2013
www.galeriedonaldbrowne.com