Ag Deilbhiú Am
Is iomaí torthaí le fáil ó phróisis fada, críochnúil léinn, go háirithe maidir le healaín fíoracha. Le stair tríocha míle bliain ar a laghad aige agus iomad éigríochta ghaolta idir gné, timpeallacht agus fealsúnacht, tá an traidisiún fíorach dhealbhóireachta bríomhar beo fós. Is ábhar casta í an fhíor dhaonna a éilíonn ón dealbhóir idirghaol cuimsitheach idir
na hachmainní atá aige/aici: ábhar, gné agus am a phlé. Bíonn gá ag an dealbhóir fíorach tusicint agus deaslámhacht a bheith aige/aici i láimhsiú ábhar éagsúla. Agus é nó í ag obair le cré-umha, mar shampla, ní h-amháin nach mór tusicint sa phróiseas agus teicníc teilgin mhiotail a bheith aige/aici, ach caithfidh deaslámhacht le hábhair mar chéir, plástar, cré agus an próiseas múnlaithe a bheith aige/aici leis.
Seachas fuinneamh cruthaitheach agus idéanna, ní mór leis an ealaíontóir fíorach bunthuiscint i sonraí anatamaíocha na fíorach dhaonna, a fheidhm, a bhuntomhais, a pháirteanna a bheith aige/aici, chomh maith leis an ngaol casta eatarthu. Caithfidh an dealbhóir an fhíor dhaonna, mar a thuigeann agus a bhraitheann sé/sí í, a aistriú agus a theibiú go foirm dhealbhóireachta. Imeascann an próiseas foirmithe (Formgebungsprozeß nó Gestaltungsprozeß) idé, aireachtáil, braistint agus gné le chéile, ach téann sé, chomh maith, le láimhsiú an ábhair. Iompraíonn aon imeacht an oibiochta dhealbhóireachta ón fhíor dhaonna léiriú agus d'fhéadfadh sé an bhrí iomlán a athrú.
Timthriallta Shaothair
Portraits
Inspired by Marino Marini’s portraits during a visit to Tuscany in 1998, Holger started to work on a series of portraits of close friends. Some of the ‘multiple portraits’ were the starting point of the inquiry into simultaneity of time and form and proved to be important for the development of his sculptural language. A portrait study of the German writer Heinrich Böll in bronze is in the collection of the Heinrich Böll Cottage, Achill Island.
The Suleika Cycle
Continuing the initial experimentation with intersecting forms resulted in the Suleika cycle, three double-figure groups referring to Goethe’s West-Östlicher Divan. With the knowledge of the human body gained through ongoing life studies, Holger attempted complex and sculpturally difficult interlocking of human forms in this work cycle.
The Suibhne/Bran Cycles
Inspired by the form and proportions of Irish curachs as well as the life-style and mythology surrounding these vessels, Holger started to introduce the image into his work to further investigate interlocking forms. Groups of three boats and a series of small individual boats cast using bronze-age technology, are part of this series.
Free Compositions
Initiated by studies of buildings in Florence, two architectural composition studies explore concepts of intersecting forms in a more abstract context than the figure. Architectural Composition I originated in a whole cube, subsequently cut and reassembled.
Other Work
Alongside groups and work-cycles stand a number of single pieces that reflect personal interests at the time. Ecce Homo is a critical comment on consumer culture in Britain, investigating forms with dual reading (carrier bags and skulls), while Caryatid is a continuation on the burden-theme of the Daidalos series, however, inspired by sketches of travellers at a train station. Oceanos Hands, strictly a continuation of early hand studies was made to be used as the head of a fountain. Four large scale wood carvings evolved in 2001: an over-lifesize torso in elmwood, a carving from a railway-sleeper, inspired by images of annunciation scenes in Tuscany and a translation of Daidalos II in ash.
