©Courtesy of Francois Ghebaly and the artist
Observation vs. Construction
In dialogue with Holly Lowen
FVTVRIST Magazine // December, 2025
Holly Lowen's recent paintings explore evolutionary psychology, domestication, and sport, especially tennis, as metaphors for social performance, discipline, and primal instinct. She describes how the uniformity of tennis attire and the confined space of the court evoke repression and release. FVTVRIST speaks with her about the direction of her future projects and her recent presentation at Perrotin.
Portrait of Holly Lowen © Courtesy of the artist
What is the idea shaping your practice right now?
I’m always interested in the idea of control and release. It is a balance that’s explored in so many creative works, from Wuthering Heights to jazz, Frozen to Nietzsche (if these examples can be allowed together). There is an innate human instinct to assert order over nature, even over our own instincts. In my work I’m trying to get at that nuance.
©Courtesy of Simchowitz and the artist
Why has sport become such a strong framework in your practice?
Sports are a perfect analogy of the strange balance we have as humans—between ordered society and primal nature, balancing Dionysian and Apollonian impulses. Tennis specifically is a great example because it encompasses both extremes, a combination of immense physical exertion with high level thinking of a chess player. The geometry of the game, the lines and boxes within boxes, add to that perfection and control, while the internal experience of a player can be quite different.
I find tennis to encapsulate so much of that dynamism, but it is one example of a broader concept, and I’m excited to expand thematically in my next iteration of work.
What usually sparks a new work for you: a movement, a mood, or a specific detail?
Inspiration for me often comes from a deepening understanding of a story. I feel grounded when I have an internal narrative to a work, even if it’s not clear to viewers, it helps me to craft a cohesive idea from the offset. I read a lot of mythology when I was little and I recently returned to the story of Ariadne and Theseus, in which she offers him a ball of yarn to navigate the Minotaur’s labyrinth. The Surrealists took that to signify the plumbing of the subconscious mind, as if delving too deeply into your own thoughts required a return map.
I love myths because they are grasping at the overarching human experience and I imagine the goal of visual art as much the same.
Other times I use a tactic one of my art school professors taught me of starting with the composition of a favorite work from history and combining it with the mood I’m trying to capture. Even with a spark of inspiration, I still find I need parameters to push against.
How much of your imagery comes from observation, and how much is constructed?
My compositions are usually constructed, while color comes from external observation. Last year a whole color palette for a painting came from a friend’s outfit one day. I keep an album on my phone with color inspiration that has become quite eclectic.
As for compositions, they might start from an art historical reference or a general feeling of movement and then I layer on imagery that fits that energy. Most of my figural work is a compilation of so many images. Starting with a photographic reference of myself to define a particular posture, I accumulate images from all types of sources—movie stills, sporting events, commercial photography—and work it into an amalgam as I paint. The process keeps some strangeness in my work because nothing is ever fully photographic or based on a single person.
©Courtesy Perrotin
Your recent presentation at Perrotin introduced your work to a broader international audience. Did the context of Perrotin influence how you curated or developed the works for that show?
I had one painting in Perrotin’s Matignon exhibition last month and will have three works with them next week for Miami Basel. It is my first time showing abroad and for the fair, so it is a good time to evaluate if my messages can carry across different contexts and cultures. I see putting work together for a show as an opportunity to create a long-format dialogue where I can focus on the through lines of each piece, both overt and subtle.
If your latest body of work were a song, which track would it be?
I love this question. But it’s also predictably hard to answer. One of my top songs while painting this series has been Breezeblocks by alt-J, which speaks to the work because it’s an upbeat lighthearted melody with strangely sinister lyrics. I love the feeling of seeing something that feels simple on the offset and then morphs as you spend more time with it. I’ve read that the song is based on Where the Wild Things Are, which adds even another level and it becomes such a wild mashup of emotions.
What’s a studio habit you’d never give up?
Starting the day with color mixing has become a wonderful way for me to drop into a flow state. It’s such a meditative act. It is the painting equivalent of sharpening a sword, because I’m basically setting up my own tools for the day. Recently, I’ve started to teach my kids to mix paint at a table I’ve set up for them in the studio. They are still young but I hope it might draw them to the space more often and we can find a way to work in tandem.
I’m also just in the studio painting every day. That one is easy because it still feels like play, frustrating and all-consuming as it can be, it is such a joy.
If you could host any artist from any era in your studio for one hour, who sits beside you?
Perhaps Caravaggio. It would be one hell of an afternoon.
About Holly Lowen
Holly Lowen uses tennis as a metaphor in her latest series to examine society’s constraints on primal instincts. Her entangled figures, set within formalized social structures, challenge perceptions of societal norms and boundaries.
Inspired by the dynamic battle scenes of Peter Paul Rubens and Old Master studies, Holly reinterprets these influences through a contemporary lens, crafting a haunting critique of competition and polite society's suppression of passion and aggression.
Holly earned a BA in Art History from Duke University, a degree in Interior Architecture from The New School, and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. Before staring her artistic practice, she worked in interior design. Holly debuted her first solo exhibition at Simchowitz Hill House in Los Angeles this past February, and participated in group shows with Eric Firestone and Francois Ghebaly this summer. She will show in Perrotin’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach this month.
