Andrew Holmes

This exhibition brings together 17 drawings by Andrew Holmes to coincide with the publication of the book GAS TANK CITY.
For 50 years Andrew Holmes has pursued the trucks, trailers, tanks and highways of the American West in a series of 100 identical large scale drawings. The subject is the Interstate Highway system, the largest structure in the world, at 43,000 miles, conceived and designed as a single entity. This is the mobile armature that sustains the artificial oasis of Los Angeles, or rather the lines of transportation that maintain the city across the harsh surrounding desert. The work documents, analyses, and classifies the machines driven by the men and women who ride and maintain this armature. It offers glimpses of the fetishes of blue collar America, the classical Kenworth truck, the baroque curve of the stainless container, and the pearlised gleam of the custom car. The lovingly embellished mass-produced objects become stand-ins for their owners.

The titles of the works indicate they are both history and portrait. As a collection they capture the decline of the 'Age of Oil'.

ANDREW HOLMES (b.1947) studied at the AA and was for many years an innovative and inspiring Diploma Programme unit master there. He is an internationally recognised photorealist artist who has made a lifelong contribution to contemporary art. In addition, his work encompasses printmaking, photography, film, radio and design. He is Emeritus Professor of Architecture at Oxford Brookes University. He was formerly Guest Professor at the Technische Universitaet, Berlin, and a Visiting Scholar at the Getty Research Institute. He lives and works in London.