These are some examples of Jim Holyoak's art. I stumbled across his stuff sometime over the past few years? And have found myself consistently inspired by his work.
I definitely recommend check out his website!
His artist statement is really well done in my opinion,
and there are a vast number of illustrations to keep your eyes busy.
woo!
http://www.monstersforreal.com/
Oh and he's working on a project, and asking folks to send him postcards.
Here is the info if anyone is interested,
"Dear friends and fellow
would-be-correspondence-artists,
I need help in the form of postcards.
As many of you know, I’m in the final
year of my MFA at Concordia University in Montréal. For the first part of my two-part thesis exhibition,
I’ll be working inside a long vitrine in the Faculty of Fine Arts (FOFA)
Gallery, generating a 10’9” tall, 115’ long drawing installation. Within this
long, glass hallway, I’ll be drawing a geological timescape inhabited by
endangered, extinct, and imaginary animals. Thinking of myself
as an amateur paleoecologist, and of the FOFA vitrine as a large terrarium, I
will volunteer myself as a semi-captive specimen, and grow a paper forest. This
indoor forest will be not only a timescape, but also a mindscape - a realm of
fact and fantasy, inhabited by monsters and other animals, extinct and
endangered, throughout the span of life on Earth. Like a conscientious
gardener, I will tend to the space every day, for one month.
The show is titled ‘Holocene,’ after
our present
geological epoch. It began 12,000 years ago and what sets it apart from other
epochs is that it is not defined by evolutionary or geological phenomena, but
by the impact of humans on the rest of the biosphere. We are currently experiencing the Holocene Extinction, which is human
caused, and is the sixth mass extinction in the history of the Earth.
The aim of this exhibition is to blur the perceived lines between human
and animal, real and unreal, what exists now and what is gone forever. By
treating myself as a specimen, I hope to become more aware
of my own animal nature, to examine human alienation from the natural world,
and to question the commonly taken-for-granted attitude of human supremacy. I
hope also to increase general mindfulness of the fact that we, as homo sapiens,
belong to but a single species among multitudes of Earthlings. From this
perspective we can better know who we are as humans.
Here’s where the postcards fit in:
A long glass wall will separate me from the outside
world. I need messages from elsewhere to expand my microcosmic habitat. You are
invited to collaborate with me via the mail.
What I’m hoping for most are postcards that depict
real or make-believe places, or pictures of endangered, extinct, or imaginary
beings. They could be descriptions of, or reflections on, your experience of
wherever or however you are, or your perception of the state of the Earth.
Subject matter could also be memories, daydreams, fantasies, or ideas.
All submissions will be integrated into the
exhibition. I am collecting mail now, and will continue to do so over the
duration of the show, which will end at the finissage on Feb. 11th,
2011. If you are willing and able to mail me, I will be very grateful, and if
you ask me to write back I will do so sometime in 2011. For hand-deliveries, a
mailbox will be available in the FOFA located on the main floor of the EV
Building, Concordia University, 1515 Ste. Catherine Street Ouest.
Otherwise, please send
mail to:
Jim Holyoak
c/o
Faculty of Fine Arts Gallery
1455 Boul. De Maisonneuve Ouest, EV
1-7-715
Montreal, QC
H3G 1M8
Canada
Thank you sincerely,
Jim Holyoak
ps
Feel free to pass this message on to
anyone you think would be interested. "