People in Pubs
“I made my first people in pub pieces in 2016, they were laser etched drawings that contained stills photographed from Chas N' Daves Christmas Special, first broadcast in 1982.”
Holman’s drawings at first appeared ghostly, with the aesthetic of a faint pattern left on plaster when wallpaper is removed. The past lingering in the spaces we live in or gathered in. Contemplating the idea that in all the empty pubs of England, the memories of the people were caught behind the wallpaper, informing the very fabric of the walls. All that energy, life, laughing and the drama of the beautiful every day couldn't just dissipate?
10 years later in 10,000 British pubs have closed. In response to this, Holman industrially printed new pub scenes onto fabric referencing both the fabric of English tapestry, and the decor and furniture of a traditional English pub, which in itself, is also a medieval heritage that looms large in the English psyche.
"The Cockney entertainers host a lively Christmas party in a replica East End pub complete with flowing alcohol, a jubilant crowd of Eastenders and guests including Eric Clapton." In a REPLICA East End pub.....
A Memory of People in Pubs 1
A Memory of People in Pubs 2
People in Pubs 1
People in Pubs 3
People in pubs | The second act
Exhibited in…
People in Pubs is alternatively monikered ‘The Third Place.’
Urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg defines a third place as a place of refuge other than the home or workplace where people can regularly visit and commune with friends, neighbors, coworkers, and even strangers.
The great British pub is depicted by ten artists, through familiar motifs, ephemera and an acknowledgement of a collective nostalgia for a space that was once a cypher for British identity, community and collective identity.
