KARL HOLTBY

Artist Statement

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The ‘Artist Statement’ section of my website has laid bare for some time. This has been due to a number of factors. Firstly, because the themes running through my work are wide-ranging. But also due to the fact that these moments captured are so profound on a personal level that I have often struggled to transform those feelings into words.

Only now, after many years and long-term projects, do I feel a readiness to elaborate on the varying messages, intentions and intricacies of my work thus far. 

It all began in childhood. I was lucky to be introduced to wild places at an early age. I instantly felt a deep connection to the natural world. I wouldn’t have called it so at age seven, but that connection I now know to be deeply spiritual. Essentially it is this primal feeling of our place in the natural world, as something much more meaningful and interconnected than many of us feel in our contemporary modern lives, that I attempt to evoke in my work. Growing up in an industrial city, going to school, pursuing a career all seemed absolutely meaningless. Daily modern life felt like an alternate reality. 

With that in mind it leads me on to another recurring theme evident through much of my work. I am hyper-sensitive to the energy of places. I am often drawn to barren outposts, places where there are signs of human interaction with the landscape. Decaying machinery on a desolate beach, for example. I feel the presence of human spirits past, a feeling of the eerie in the landscape. Additionally, when visiting wilderness areas, one can feel an animalistic presence. This leads to further questions on themes of conservation, where empty landscapes scream with the energy of long since departed beings, all of which have left their energetic imprint upon their former habitat. 

These recurring motifs are deeply felt, yet ambiguous. It is important to evoke the mystery of these themes in all of my work.