Desirée Holman (born 1974) is an American artist.

Education and career

Holman received her master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley and her Bachelor of Fine Arts from California College of the Arts. She was among the 2008 SECA Art Award winners from the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

as well as 2007 winner of the Artadia: Fund for Art and Dialogue award. Holman's solo exhibitions include the

Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...

in Los Angeles, and the Berkeley Art Museum’s MATRIX program. Holman’s work has been shown internationally at the

Sao Paulo Museum of Modern Art SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...

, Hessel Museum,

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a multi-disciplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, natio ...

, di Rosa, Milan’s BnD, and Toronto’s YYZ. Her work is represented by Aspect/Ratio in Chicago, IL.

Themes

Holman works across media in drawings, sculpture, photography and video. Her work often combines all of these in low-fi video productions that involve masks, costumes, and the choreography of multiple participants. Holman’s work is concerned with the performance of identity, alternative realities, and the relationship between self and other.

Exhibitions

In 2009, her work was shown in Los Angeles in the exhibition ‘Hammer Projects: Desirée Holman.’ Holman's project,‘Reborn,’ featured drawings, three-channel video installation and sculpture. The work was inspired by a subculture of women (primarily in the U.S. and Great Britain) called ‘ reborners’ who care for incredibly lifelike baby dolls, bathing and feeding them as they would a real infant. Holman created her own realistic dolls and drew Mary Cassatt inspired images of mothers and their babies. The exhibition was organized by Hammer Curator Ali Subotnick. In 2011 Holman's exhibition ‘Heterotopias’ was shown as part of the MATRIX 238 program at the

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...

. The exhibition included drawings and video. Holman had nine performers imagine alternate identities to create an avatar, or surrogate self, for which she then created props and costumes. Performers used the props and costumes to act out their character in a choreographed music video. She then had each performer fully rendered as a 3-D model in a virtual gamescape. The exhibition was curated by Phyllis Wattis MATRIX Curator Elizabeth Thomas with Dena Beard, Assistant Curator.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holman, Desiree 1974 births Living people