Visual / Musical artist, Shawn Holley, is both prescriber and patient. Doctor and demon. Atop his painted canvases swirls the lucidity of confusion, the purge of persuasion, the rainbows of other planets in other galaxies made from other imaginations. There is danger in his work like there is danger in water, too much air or sunlight. These things give life and, as such, take them, too. Holley’s mind is a fish breathing fire, spitting out crumbs that resemble tear-doused rose petals.
But Holley is also a musician and, so, his artwork is also an extension of his sped-up punk rock tunes. The songs he sings with bleached-white jacket and coke-brown sunglasses are the vibrations that lacquer his work. The finishing touch on a never finished endeavor. The final dream before the alarm sets you on your feet and out the door for more Cheerios. His is a mind lost on Bart Simpson, Goofy and cartoon moose that eventually go forgotten.
If history has learned anything from the greats it’s that a scribble can be as impactful as the Mona Lisa, a lark as central as the top of a chapel ceiling. Holley knows this; he lives his life by this maxim. His work is a shout into a cave only for the hello to come back and hit like a tornado. In a flash, he’s a feline without remorse. Then, just like that, he’s back again, on his knees, giving it all before the sun sets, before the portal shuts, before the last Px paper burns.
-Jake UittiCurrent band members: