art

Robert Hollingworth's first major exhibition was held at the Keane Mason Gallery, New York in 1980. Called Human Field Paintings, the works were derived from small sections of the human body expanded and flattened to create ambiguous readings of the figure and to open a dialogue about the way the body is socially interpreted. Since then Hollingworth has used the human form in a broader sense; to reflect on our relationship to the world and how we interpret our experience of it. In this sense the work has a philosophical and social leaning rather than a political one.

During the eighties, the modernist idea was to produce a regular, recognisable style. But during the 1980s Hollingworth examined a series of different processes to extend his interests across a range of philosophical propositions. The early Human Fields Paintings began to fracture and then later to fragment as the imagery moved further from representation.

In 1989, following a move back to Melbourne and a new environment, Hollingworth reintroduced the human figure in response to observations of the street people in the vicinity of his Fitzroy studio. But these anonymous figures were not designed to illustrate the observed world but to act as signifiers for a range of psychological conditions; the dissolving and re-forming images were meant to reflect upon the fragile and uncertain nature of human experience.

Another shift in Hollingworth's work occurred in the early nineties when he undertook a Master of Fine Art at RMIT University. He began to examine Aboriginal rock art and to compare the indigenous understanding of experience with Western scientific rationalism.  For the next five years Hollingworth utilised Leonardo da Vinci’s scientific drawings as a means to explore what he saw as the limitations of the Western analytical processes.

The artist felt that as much as Leonardo dissected the body, he was also dissecting our perceptions which would eventually establish the analytical methods we employ to interpret our world today. However, where art is concerned, Hollingworth felt that this analytical process might have a ‘closing’ effect and that Western positivism might be having a detrimental effect on the poetic aspects of our lives. Up until 2005 Hollingworth continued to draw on the imagery and history of science and biology.

More recently the artist has reintroduced discernable figurative elements that connect his practice back to an early interest in "country". Hollingworth is a fifth generation country-born Victorian and these paintings are inspired by experience of the land. Yet the artist still tries to avoid what he sees as limitations in Western perception preferring that the works be seen as representative of intimate experience.

Hollingworth is also a writer and his published works also reflect this abiding interest in "country". The implied narrative which underlies his paintings allows him to join the threads of both disciplines.

 Human Field Painting IV 1980, 102 x 102 cm Oil on linen

writing

In 1991 Hollingworth undertook a course in Professional Writing at RMIT University. Although he only completed one year, that intensive study in Short Story, Non-fiction and Novel Writing was very influential. Hollingworth has since written many newspaper reviews and published essays on contemporary art in journals including Tension, Dialogue, Art Monthly Australia and Asian Art News. Some of his short stories have been published in various literary periodicals such as Overland and Going Down Swinging.

Hollingworth's latest work is an historical novel, They called me The Wildman – The prison diary of Henricke Nelsen which was published in February 2008 by Murdoch Books.