What is the attraction of the subconscious? Our sleeping minds teeming with symbolic experience…

Anna Holling’s paintings capture this elusive experience with rare skill and elegance; her emotive dreamscapes intrigue the viewer with hidden meanings and ominous depths.

Anna’s connection with painterly expression and drive to create is influenced by her mother, an accomplished painter and remarkable person, who encouraged her creative expression. Other abiding influences would include the Surrealist movement and contemporary New Zealand painting. Anna has assiduously pursued avenues of self-directed learning and experimental creativity resulting in a unique style which she wields with grace and skill.

Diagnosed with depression in 1995, Holling’s work typically communicates psychological themes and issues of culture and identity. Through the isolation and darkness in Anna’s paintings, however, a sense of humour emerges that makes the experience even more vivid and often more  poignant.

Hollings has an extensive exhibition history in New Zealand, she continues to exhibit regularly and her work has been purchased by national and international collectors and organisations. Anna has recently relocated her studio to Reefton after working in Auckland for fifteen years to more actively develop her work, in particular South Island landscapes. The studio is open most days and visitors are welcome. Please contact Anna for more information. 

_{- Shelley Hargis, 12/02/08}