Camille Holvoet

March 14–April 29, 2023
View of three gallery walls. On the far wall, straight ahead, are three pastel drawings of the same size. On the left wall are nine more pastel drawings, all the same size and hung in two rows. On the right wall are four more pastel drawings hung in two rows. The works are all figurative, mostly showing scenes from the artist’s daily life.

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023

Two gallery walls meet at an angle. On the left wall are twelve pastel drawings showing figures and scenes from the artist’s daily life. On the right wall is another pastel drawing, showing the artist and another person.

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023

Gallery view at an angle. On the left wall are three pastel drawings hung at eye level depicting the artist moving into a new home, starting a new job and going to an exhibit of her work, respectively. On the right wall are six more drawings hung in two rows.

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023

Two gallery walls meet at an angle. On the left wall are eight pastel drawings hung in two rows. On the right wall are three more drawings hung in a row. All of the works depict the artist in scenes from her daily life.

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023

Six pastel drawings are hung in two rows of three on a freestanding gallery wall. The works depict scenes from funerals, some of which show the artist in attendance, while others show the dead in their coffins, sometimes with their belongings tucked in alongside them.

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023

Twelve pastel drawings are hung in two rows on a gallery wall. These drawings show the artist in scenes from her daily life including receiving medical treatments, attending a party, moving to a new home and visiting with friends.

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023

A freestanding gallery wall shown at an angle. Six pastel drawings are hung in two rows of three on the wall. The works depict scenes from funerals, some of which show the artist in attendance, while others show the dead in their coffins, sometimes with their belongings tucked in alongside them.

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023

A drawing of the artist receiving an EEG test while laying in a hospital bed, her head festooned with colorful electrodes. Her eyes are closed and a faint smile is on her face. A static-y television is in the upper right corner.

Camille Holvoet, The New EEG Test in Chips…, 1988. Pastel and pencil on paper, 22 × 30 in.

The artist is shown with eyes downcast amongst a variety of pill bottles, syringes and other medical paraphernalia. Two grayish squiggles spread out from her shoulders. She wears a teal sweater and a red beaded necklace. An oversized hand holding pills extends to her left.

Camille Holvoet, Miracle medicine, 1993, pastel and pencil on paper, 22 × 30 in.

A pastel drawing of a funeral. A figure lies in a purple casket surrounded by hearts and flowers while onlookers face the casket. The artist is shown crying to the left of the casket.

Camille Holvoet, Severic’s Funeral, 1995, pastel and pencil on paper, 22 × 30 in.

Press Release

White Columns is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Camille Holvoet (b. 1952, San Francisco, CA) an artist who, since 2001, has been affiliated with Creativity Explored, a studio-based program in San Francisco that supports a community of artists with disabilities.

Holvoet grew up in San Francisco and, due to behavioral issues, was separated from her family at a young age. Institutionalized as a child, she eventually lost contact with her parents and siblings, but not before her older sisters taught her how to draw. Holvoet spent the rest of her adolescence and early adulthood living in group homes. Holvoet’s exhibition at White Columns focuses on a series of visceral, large-format pastel drawings that she produced between 1988 and 2001, when she was affiliated with Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center. (White Columns director Matthew Higgs came across them in Creative Growth’s archives in 2022 whilst researching for another exhibition.)  In these important earlier works Holvoet documents the often complex realities of her daily life: including portraits of friends, memories of her home life, her ongoing experiences with medication and medical procedures, depictions of funerals, and – crucially – her self-determined identity as an artist. At once diaristic and direct, Holvoet’s work from this era provides us with an unflinching yet poignant account of life’s myriad pleasures and contradictions.

Since 2001 Holvoet has worked in the studios of San Francisco’s Creativity Explored. She is now perhaps best known for her exuberant drawings of desserts and foodstuffs that conflate desire, consumption and seduction, three early examples of which can be viewed in White Columns’ office space. Writing about Holvoet in 2015, Priscilla Frank succinctly described her approach: “Sugar, frosting, cherries, pills, bodies, ferris wheels, merry-go-rounds … these are the ingredients that make up Holvoet’s body of work. Like the strange lovechild of Wayne Thiebaud and Dorothy Iannone, Holvoet generously offers her viewers an all-you-can-see buffet of edible indulgence…”

 

 

Camille Holvoet (b. 1952) lives and works in San Francisco. Since 2001 she has been affiliated with Creativity Explored. Her work has been exhibited extensively at Creativity Explored, and in exhibitions at Jack Fischer Gallery (San Francisco), Summertime (New York), Minnesota Street Project (San Francisco), and at the Outsider Art Fair (New York), among other venues. To learn more, visit the artist’s page at: www.creativityexplored.org/artists/camille-holvoet

 

 

White Columns would like to thank the staff of both Creative Growth and Creativity Explored for their enthusiasm and support for this exhibition. To learn more about both organizations visit: www.creativegrowth.org and www.creativityexplored.org

Since 2005 White Columns has collaborated on more than forty exhibitions and projects with national and international organizations that support artists with disabilities including: Creative Growth Art Center, Oakland, CA; NIAD, Richmond, CA; Visionaries + Voices, Cincinnati, OH; Fountain House, New York, NY; HAI, New York, NY; Project Ability, Glasgow, Scotland; and Intoart, London, England among others.

For further information about this exhibition contact: violet@whitecolumns.org

Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11am to 6pm.

Checklist

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View of three gallery walls. On the far wall, straight ahead, are three pastel drawings of the same size. On the left wall are nine more pastel drawings, all the same size and hung in two rows. On the right wall are four more pastel drawings hung in two rows. The works are all figurative, mostly showing scenes from the artist’s daily life.
Two gallery walls meet at an angle. On the left wall are twelve pastel drawings showing figures and scenes from the artist’s daily life. On the right wall is another pastel drawing, showing the artist and another person.
Gallery view at an angle. On the left wall are three pastel drawings hung at eye level depicting the artist moving into a new home, starting a new job and going to an exhibit of her work, respectively. On the right wall are six more drawings hung in two rows.
Two gallery walls meet at an angle. On the left wall are eight pastel drawings hung in two rows. On the right wall are three more drawings hung in a row. All of the works depict the artist in scenes from her daily life.
Six pastel drawings are hung in two rows of three on a freestanding gallery wall. The works depict scenes from funerals, some of which show the artist in attendance, while others show the dead in their coffins, sometimes with their belongings tucked in alongside them.
Twelve pastel drawings are hung in two rows on a gallery wall. These drawings show the artist in scenes from her daily life including receiving medical treatments, attending a party, moving to a new home and visiting with friends.
A freestanding gallery wall shown at an angle. Six pastel drawings are hung in two rows of three on the wall. The works depict scenes from funerals, some of which show the artist in attendance, while others show the dead in their coffins, sometimes with their belongings tucked in alongside them.
A drawing of the artist receiving an EEG test while laying in a hospital bed, her head festooned with colorful electrodes. Her eyes are closed and a faint smile is on her face. A static-y television is in the upper right corner.
The artist is shown with eyes downcast amongst a variety of pill bottles, syringes and other medical paraphernalia. Two grayish squiggles spread out from her shoulders. She wears a teal sweater and a red beaded necklace. An oversized hand holding pills extends to her left.
A pastel drawing of a funeral. A figure lies in a purple casket surrounded by hearts and flowers while onlookers face the casket. The artist is shown crying to the left of the casket.

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023 (View of three gallery walls. On the far wall, straight ahead, are three pastel drawings of the same size. On the left wall are nine more pastel drawings, all the same size and hung in two rows. On the right wall are four more pastel drawings hung in two rows. The works are all figurative, mostly showing scenes from the artist’s daily life.)

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023 (Two gallery walls meet at an angle. On the left wall are twelve pastel drawings showing figures and scenes from the artist’s daily life. On the right wall is another pastel drawing, showing the artist and another person.)

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023 (Gallery view at an angle. On the left wall are three pastel drawings hung at eye level depicting the artist moving into a new home, starting a new job and going to an exhibit of her work, respectively. On the right wall are six more drawings hung in two rows.)

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023 (Two gallery walls meet at an angle. On the left wall are eight pastel drawings hung in two rows. On the right wall are three more drawings hung in a row. All of the works depict the artist in scenes from her daily life.)

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023 (Six pastel drawings are hung in two rows of three on a freestanding gallery wall. The works depict scenes from funerals, some of which show the artist in attendance, while others show the dead in their coffins, sometimes with their belongings tucked in alongside them.)

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023 (Twelve pastel drawings are hung in two rows on a gallery wall. These drawings show the artist in scenes from her daily life including receiving medical treatments, attending a party, moving to a new home and visiting with friends.)

Camille Holvoet, installation view, 2023 (A freestanding gallery wall shown at an angle. Six pastel drawings are hung in two rows of three on the wall. The works depict scenes from funerals, some of which show the artist in attendance, while others show the dead in their coffins, sometimes with their belongings tucked in alongside them.)

Camille Holvoet, The New EEG Test in Chips…, 1988. Pastel and pencil on paper, 22 × 30 in. (A drawing of the artist receiving an EEG test while laying in a hospital bed, her head festooned with colorful electrodes. Her eyes are closed and a faint smile is on her face. A static-y television is in the upper right corner.)

Camille Holvoet, Miracle medicine, 1993, pastel and pencil on paper, 22 × 30 in. (The artist is shown with eyes downcast amongst a variety of pill bottles, syringes and other medical paraphernalia. Two grayish squiggles spread out from her shoulders. She wears a teal sweater and a red beaded necklace. An oversized hand holding pills extends to her left.)

Camille Holvoet, Severic’s Funeral, 1995, pastel and pencil on paper, 22 × 30 in. (A pastel drawing of a funeral. A figure lies in a purple casket surrounded by hearts and flowers while onlookers face the casket. The artist is shown crying to the left of the casket.)