VCU Artist to Watch: Aaron Holmes

Aaron Holmes is a junior Painting and Printmaking major at VCU School of the Arts, and his art is going to take the world by storm. In just his first year at VCU, a VCU Arts Dean reached out to Holmes to purchase one of his self-portraits. Holmes grew up in Chicago and credits his school’s support of the arts as something that helped set him up to move into art as a career path.

Holmes started art in elementary school, and he says he remembers his first ever art piece. “It was a Van Gogh piece, his sunflowers. I was a kid and I did it in colored pencil or maybe we had some really cheap paint, and I remember my teachers just like gassing me. They were like, ‘He’s going to be like a great artist one day’… My mom will still talk about that to this day,” says Holmes. From there, Holmes continued with art in school. He learned many different art forms including drawing, sculpting and graphic design, but painting became his true passion.

While many parents voice concern when their children decide to go into the arts, Holmes’ mom was the opposite.  Of his mom Holmes says, “If she had been like, ‘nah I don’t think you should do art,’ I probably would have listened, but that just hasn’t been the case with her. My mom’s like my number one fan. Every painting that I do, she always wants a copy, and she has this little like Aaron artwork shrine at her house.” Due to both his school’s and his mother’s encouragement in the arts, Holmes has come to VCU to pursue his dream of becoming a painter.

Holmes is still figuring out what he wants the overall message of his body of work to be, but he says his main focus is on creating narratives in his pieces, while still leaving the deeper meaning up to interpretation. When people view his works, Holmes wants people to think, “what am I looking at … how do these things interact with each other to create this narrative?” He says, “You probably don’t know what it is, or you probably do, but at the end of the day I think I still like to play around with that ‘up for interpretation’ aspect.” Holmes works to capture the human experience, while still leaving each piece’s story up to the viewer and how he or she interacts with it.

Holmes draws inspiration from many prominent African American artists, especially those who focus on bringing a voice to those who are typically left out of the Fine Arts world. Holmes lists Kerry James Marshall, an artist based in Holmes’ hometown of Chicago, as his number one inspiration, based on how many galleries he exhibits in around the world and how he can get people to react to his ideas and visions. Holmes also cites Titus Kaphar, as an inspiration for the way he “unveil[s] the silenced voices of people of color, who don’t really have a lot of platform to get their voices heard.” When it comes to color and composition, Holmes takes inspiration from Peter Saul, who Holmes states is amazing at getting the viewer’s eye to move around a whole canvas.

While Holmes draws inspiration from many different artists for many different aspects of work, sometimes he likes to just start with a completely blank canvas and no outside inspiration, just to see how his own voice and message can come through. As Holmes works through finding his specific message, he knows that no matter what, whether he is working on representative portraiture or something more abstract, the human experience will always be at the center of his works.

You can find more of Holmes’ art here, and keep your eyes and ears open for any upcoming shows, as Holmes has been in talks with local galleries to curate his own show here in Richmond, this summer. Summer is also the perfect time to reach out to Holmes if you are interested in purchasing a commissioned piece for your own collection. Who knows, one day you may be holding onto a piece of art history.

Article by Garnette Ransone

Photo credits: 1 & 3 by author Garnette Ransone. 2 provided by artist Aaron Holmes.

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