26 May - 14 June 2011
about the exhibition
Judy Holding has established a strong identity as an artist through the development of a personal visual ‘vocabulary’ of symbolic forms. In particular, her highly characteristic and beautifully realised depictions of trees and birds reflect her abiding love for the diverse flora and fauna of the Kakadu region in the Northern Territory. Judy has travelled extensively throughout northern Australia gaining imagery for her practice and in doing so has forged deep bonds with Indigenous people. Consequently, she imbues her work with a palpable sense of the timeless quality of these landscapes that others recognise and are inspired by. Her symbolic forms, painted in jewel-like colours, overlap and interact with each other in the construction of an artistic lexicon that appears unique in Australian art.
Judy Holding is a Melbourne based artist who has been practising for over thirty years. In 1977, she completed her Diploma of Fine Art at Monash University and since then has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions across Australia. In 2002, she exhibited in Le Sei Stagioni della Terra Australiana at the Monash University Centre in Prato, Italy and in 2004 was a finalist in the Montalto Sculpture Prize and the Swan Hill Print and Drawing Award. Her work is represented in collections throughout Australia including Artbank, Sydney; Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; and Benalla Regional Gallery and Shepparton Regional Gallery, Victoria.
