I have always been awed and inspired by the mystery and amorality of nature. My paintings deal with carefully selected subjects from my observations, visions, and experiences with the natural world. In the most recent decade, creatures living and dead, have entered into my images. Birds, butterflies, insects, and mammals have become part of the scenes that haunt my thoughts. I investigate the kinship between my envisioned nature and it's inhabitants and their physical and spiritual machinations and intrigues. I see the natural world filled with both unconscious and symbolic rituals and phenomena. My paintings are meant to give insight into this often unseen world. Creatures become a liaison between our natural world and our human world and imply a kinship to human experience.

I paint with thin oil glazes, directly applied, layer upon layer onto a stretched linen ground. Even though this is a slow and sometimes tedious method, I have found this technique to be a good way to work as it allows me to effectively translate my subjects and physically construct the elements in my paintings, adjusting and building the images, giving veracity to what could be conceived as unbelievable content. Oil glazing tends to create a mirror-like surface that can produce a luminous depth and at the same time shows the history of the making in the surface of the painting - a 'plastic' effect that I enjoy working with that allows a painting to engage the viewer in an abstract and formal way upon close inspection.

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Holly Sears' work has been in solo and two person exhibitions at Tria Gallery (NYC - Chelsea), Metaphor Contemporary Art (Brooklyn, NY), Joyce Goldstein Gallery (Chatham, NY), Ruth Siegel Gallery (New York City), Anderson Gallery (Richmond, Va.), and Richmond Artist's Workshop (Richmond, Va.). Group exhibitions include ROCA (Nyack, NY), Central Booking (Brooklyn, NY), Art Gate Gallery (NYC-Chelsea), Art in Embassies Program, U.S. Department of State, Tel Aviv from 2006-08, multiple shows at Metaphor Contemporary Art (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Wave Hill Glyndor Gallery (Bronx, NY), Joyce Goldstein Gallery (Chatham, NY), Edward Hopper House (Nyack, NY), Kenise Barnes Fine Art (Larchmont, NY), The Gallery at Pfizer Learning Center (Rye Brook, NY), Bergen Museum of Art and Science (Paramus, N.J.), Marymount Manhattan Gallery (New York City), Ruth Siegel Gallery (New York City), Churchman Fehsenfeld Gallery (Indianapolis, Ind.), Herron Gallery (Indianapolis, Ind.), Virginia Museum of Fine Art (Richmond, Va.), Fayerweather Gallery (Charlottesville, Va.), and A.R.T.S. Gallery (New York City). Sears has been a three time recipient of a fellowship from Virginia Center for the Arts (VCCA) and her work is in the collections of the Bank of America, Sidney and Frances Lewis of Richmond, Va., American Telephone and Telegraphy, Illinois and numerous private collections. Sears has lived and worked in Brooklyn, NY since 1985.
 

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