The forest ‘space’ has been a key element of René Holm’s earlier works and series of paintings. Many people find the forest a beautiful, peaceful place to go for a walk in, recharging their body and soul. But, in the dead of night, most people prefer to steer clear of that same forest, since we all know, or have heard alarming stories of things that have happened in the darkness of the forest. Maybe it is because we recall what a scary setting the dark forest has so often provided in children’s books, novels and films. The forest has been, and still is a place to which people flee: for example, during wars. Why? The forest can serve as a hiding place in which to build a shelter. There is usually food there, you can make a bonfire to keep dangerous animals at bay or provide warmth for survival. If the forest is also the place where we seek answers to questions about the difficulties of existence, what are these characters in the new works seeking or hoping to find?

The state of darkness is something by which all of us are to some degree affected in life, when we suddenly lose someone who was close to us or the courage to live, or darkness affects our minds. The great challenge is to return to life, to find the light again: the light that helps us enjoy life, and to get up, ready for the challenges of the day. It is that light, which, depending on your beliefs, can come from above or from below. Or it can be a physical light that helps us find our way through darkness or through the gloom of winter or, more symbolically, ‘the light at the end of the tunnel’.

In previous series of works, René Holm focused on a particular place or group of people he visited. In the exhibition, You Like What You See!, René Holm looks at the unknown story, which only emerges when the viewer is in front of the new works and maybe senses something. The works also ask viewers a major question. Is there anything in their lives they wish to change? The works thereby become a mirror, and only you the viewer know the answer.

‘Dark’ painting has existed since the Renaissance. A ‘black’ painting makes a great impact, both in terms of colour and as a theme in art history, and painters have used it to depict major tragic and historical events. For example, in 2016, the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum in Berlin presented the exhibition, Die Schwarzen jahre, 1933 -1945 (The Black Years, 1933-1945).

You Like What You See! is a ‘blue monochrome’ exhibition.

You can look forward to a powerful, sensory journey through works on paper, oil on canvas and a neon text work.