Opening reception: May 7th, 2025
Location: 195 Chrystie Street, New York, NY 10002
Hours: Monday – Friday, 10 am – 6 pm, Saturday 12-5 pm & Sunday by appointment
Contact: caroline@voltzclarke.com | 917.292.6921
Press Release
Voltz Clarke Gallery is pleased to present Have you ever seen such a glorious day…, a solo-exhibition by Holland Cunningham.
In 1964 John Cheever wrote a short story entitled “The Swimmer” and in 1968 a movie with the same title starring Burt Lancaster was released. It is a bizarre odyssey through upper middle class suburbia, a somewhat trapped and small world where one is shunned if one doesn’t play the game. On the surface, Ned Merrill, the title character, embarks on a journey swimming from pool to pool through the suburbs to his own idyllic home at the other end of the county where his wife and daughters are waiting. However what starts as a fun adventure turns into a journey of darkness and the reality of Ned’s life. Inspired by the satire of suburban life and the darkness within, I set out to make work that speaks to this theme. Each pool that Ned attempts to swim represents a memory or part of his past from which he is running. In the beginning he is oblivious to what is really happening. Amidst the trail of parties and characters he encounters, his demise is slowly revealed. What appears on the surface is in fact not at all the reality. The pools, parties, and characters might represent an escape route but in fact there is no escape. His past cannot be washed away and slowly and painfully he starts to realize this, especially when he reaches the end of his journey only to find an abandoned property with no sign of life at all; only a broken house and an overgrown tennis court where he had imagined he would find his girls playing tennis in the summer sun. All that is left is the memory of what had been.
– Holland Cunningham
Born in Roanoke, Virginia, Holland Cunningham lives in New York City and London, England and has studios in New York, Quogue, and London. Cunningham employs her practice of utilizing found photography as this new selection of works builds upon the film stills and picturesque scenes from The Swimmer. The American painter graduated from the University of Virginia and her academic journey has extended through the Art Students League, the National Academy of Art and Design, and the New York School of the Arts. She has been recognized with significant residencies, including the Bau Institute in Italy and a fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. As both observer and protagonist, Cunningham captures the dynamic essence of life's continuous flow.
