The image is courtesy of Gallery NoscoSometimes street art has a gentler side. On first sight, Holly Thoburn’s work seems more rooted in the abstracted emotional traditions of Cy Twombly and JacksonPollock than in urban culture, but a closer look bears out the artist’s assertion that her creativity springs from the street culture of her native London. An early habitue of the city’s breakdancing, skateboarding and hip hop scenes, her work references the visual identities of these worlds, together with the visual presence of the city itself.
Whilst the street influence is evident in canvases printed with graffiti, the paint that is then layered over the raw tags mutes the effect of the whole, creating not just a sense of the rusting, ageing walls that are a feature of inner city spaces everywhere, but adding an unexpectedly melancholy note to the works, a quality not seen in the work of much other urban art.
Holly Thoburn’s work can be seen at Pure Evil April Fools or contact Gallery Nosco www.gallerynosco.com
