Evan Holloway: California Ras Shamra

Xavier Hufkens is pleased to present a new body of work by American sculptor Evan Holloway. In his third exhibition with the gallery since his debut in 2002, Holloway introduces a series of large-scale works that not only signal a shift in terms of approach but also usher in an intriguing new range of overlapping historical and cultural references.

California Ras Shamra refers to the two main sources of inspiration that inform Holloway’s latest work: the history, culture and geography of California (the artist’s birthplace, where he still lives and works) and the ancient Phoenician city of Ugarit, or Ras Shamra, in present-day northern Syria. Holloway’s interest in the archaeological artefacts from Ras Shamra was sparked during a visit to the Louvre. At the time, he was also researching the history of Californian Neopaganism (an umbrella term describing a broad spectrum of contemporary religious movements that are either influenced by, or claim to be derived from, various historical belief systems practiced in the pre-modern world). California – where new-age practices and ideas have traditionally thrived – is home to a local movement profoundly influenced by Ugaritic culture. Fascinated by such contemporary expressions of archaic belief systems, as well as by the artefacts themselves, Holloway began sculpting ancient Phoenician, Cypriot and Ugaritic earthenware objects – an exercise that gave birth to the chariot forms in the exhibition.