Sebastian Holbrey (b.2001 in England; based in Edinburgh, UK) creates multimedia works in both illustration and painting. By using themes of control, discomfort, religion, rituals & tradition, and life & death, Holbrey’s pieces are designed to express personal experiences within a modern reality.
In order to make sense of pivotal experiences and relationships in his life on the canvas, Holbrey creates his concepts in a first-person POV, all within guidelines of grids, squares, circles, and labels, paired with limited colour pallets and a distinctive stippling and pointillism technique. His works come together to create a naive-looking photo diary of the uncomfortable and/or thought-provoking moments within the mundane.
Within his painting practice, Holbrey also explores methods of expanding the uses of canvases and the types of canvas that can be used to paint his images upon, whether reusing existing materials or constructing his own.
In his illustration practice, Holbrey is deeply inspired by modern graphics, depicting the same themes of control and reality that are seen in his paintings. The illustrations touch on longer narratives that utilise absurdism and dark humour to address his experience of derealisation and anxiety. His current endeavors include self-publishing and printing of these illustrations and comics online and as zines.
ECA’s 2024 degree show welcomed Sebastian as a graduate in Painting BA(Hons).
Sebastian’s practice is rooted in painting, and in his final year of study broadened to include comic making and script writing during his final year of study.
In his degree show display, Holbrey installed a comic in its raw and final print form (prints available in the ECA degree show shop for a limited time), along with a collection of paintings.
The comic, Titled ‘EIGHT’ is described as a satirical take on the anxiety that stems from the feeling of being watched. The irony Sebastian finds in this, being an artist who demands to be looked at, inspired a short storyline that follows his usual routine in a day. The main character, based on himself, delves into a paranoid spiral.
Holbrey’s exhibit encapsulates his dynamic skills in pointillism and stippling further with a unique range of paintings from his most recent collection ‘Freaks of Nature’. This collection explores self-perception issues, with a particular interest in the abnormal side of genetics in animals and people.
- ‘Freaks of nature, I, me, mine’, 2024, 150x150cm, Oil and Acrylic on Birchwood board.
- ‘Winning the genetic lottery’, 2024, 60x120cm, Oil on Birchwood board.
- ‘Self Portrait with Black Hole’, 2023, 15x15cm, Oil on board.
- ‘Black Hole’, 2024, 15x15cm, Acrylic on clay and board.
- ‘Inside the box’, 2024, Acrylic on clay and board.
- ‘My body is a landlocked state’, 2023, 30x30cm, Oil on Birchwood board.
- ‘Two-headed calf’, 2024, 30x30cm,3 Acrylic on mirror board.
- ‘Still Birth’, 2024, 30x30cm, Acrylic on mirror board.