Kyle Holland ~ Alabama

I Know the Woods Come Alive at Night
By Kyle Holland
Memphis, Tennessee: Kyle Holland, 2018. Edition of 23.

6” W x 9” H (closed); 14 pages. Offset lithograph on Steel Blue French Paper. Text screenprinted from 12 pt. Hoefler. Bound as a modified accordion. Signed and numbered by the artist. Includes sheet with instructions for displaying.

Kyle Holland: "The book depicts the forest at dusk using one-color offset lithography to reproduce photographs of a misty woodland edge and the flora leading up to it with an additional graphic image of trees and text screenprinted on top. It is not bound in the strictest sense of the word; rather, each printed sheet was folded and cut in such a way that, when the book is displayed how it was intended to be viewed, it takes the form of a modified accordion structure. A portion of the sculptural book stands while the rest of it lies on the surface it is displayed on resulting in a 9” tall x 24” wide small-scale environment that the viewer/reader can walk around.

"The text in this book was excerpted from an online hunting forum entitled 'Do you ever get afraid in the woods?' and is positioned low on the pages, causing the viewer/reader to crouch down to read as if they are looking for something in the thicket. The process of reading discussions on these online hunting forums allows me to enter a liminal, virtual space from which I emerge along with the other men who inhabit them, with whom I sympathize, as an aggregate, ambiguous identity; as a result, the mediated text in the work embodies this quality, that is, information on the original hunting forums has been omitted to the extent that the source and authors of the text are indiscernible. Ultimately, it was not my intention to single these individuals out by revealing their identities, but rather to commemorate the courage it took to share their anecdotes with an online community that is undoubtedly trolled by judgmental men."
$50

Birds of Prey
By Kyle Holland
Text excerpt from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Memphis, Tennessee: Kyle Holland, 2016. Edition of 6.

7.25” x 10.375”closed; 50 pages. Inkjet printing, screenprinting and letterpress printing from photopolymer and pressure plates on paper that was handmade from cotton linters and camouflage fabric. Text handset and printed from 14 pt. Fabritius lead type. Bound as a full-leather drum leaf with a cold-tooled motif on front cover. Housed in a slipcase covered with wood veneer.

Kyle Holland: "Both the history of my relationship with my father and my experience growing up in the South have led me to believe that I must possess a certain set of qualities to be considered a man in the context of masculine culture. It seems that a man should be risk-taking and effortlessly exhibit strength, pride, confidence and superiority.

"I believe that embodying these characteristics is requisite for living among other men without judgment. However, both my behavior and physical appearance prevent me from blending in among the conventional man. I feel that I am looked upon with disdain by other men who disallow my individuality while simultaneously rejecting my efforts to fit in, rendering my attempt to attain 'manliness' as socially forbidden.

"'Birds of Prey' captures this feeling by depicting a journey through my psychological landscape. The feeling of being looked down on by other men is embodied by the vultures that loom and overshadow a deer which appears vulnerable and skinless. The imagery in the book is accompanied by text that was excerpted from Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' due to the resemblance between Victor Frankenstein's relationship with his creation and my relationship with my father. In 'Birds of Prey', Victor Frankenstein is the omniscient voice of the vultures and Frankenstein's monster gives voice to the deer."
(SOLD/Out of Print)

Coupled Voices
By Kyle Holland
Memphis, Tennessee: Kyle Holland, 2010. Edition of 5.

Two works in 5.25 x 7.25" four-flap paper folder: Coupled Voices and Emend.

Coupled Voices: 5 x 7"; 7 leaves.
Emend : 6 x 4.5" closed, opens to 12 x 9"; single sheet, French fold.
Incorporates pulp painting, letterpress printing, and watermarks on handmade paper created from cotton linters. Text is Gill Sans printed using polymer plates.

Kyle Holland: "Coupled Voices, the first piece in a suite of two, records the moment when I met my father and the short-lived time thereafter. We are each represented by a piece of string, both of which come together to form knots that correspond to a particular occasion, but I specifically chose to incorporate the fisherman's knot to symbolize my desire for our relationship to become impossible to untie. The iridescent spots in the background are abstracted views of the spots from the coat of a whitetail fawn deer. They represent my timidness when it comes to repairing my dysfunctional relationship with my father."
(SOLD)

Hunted
By Kyle Holland
Memphis, Tennessee: Kyle Holland, 2018. Edition of 3.

11.5 x 13.5" closed; 14 pages. Stenciled cotton pulp on abaca base sheets, screenprinting and letterpress printing from photopolymer plates. Text printed from 12 pt. Nikola. Bound as a softcover drum leaf with the title printed on the front cover. Laid in a matching paper folder with slip and slot closure. Signed and numbered by the artist.

Kyle Holland: "Hunted was inspired by the sensory deprivation and daunting fear of the unknown that is experienced by those who brave the wilderness at night. Several color shifts beyond a recurring wooded area represent how our eyes adjust to nightfall. It is darkness that distorts our visual sense and conceals who or what could be around. The protagonist has been omitted in this book to make the landscape the force that haunts and shapes the viewer, just as it does me.

"Most of the images in this book were created using blowouts which involves the use of stencils to cover up and protect portions of freshly formed sheets of paper while the exposed areas are blown away with a hose. The result is a hazy, dark form reminiscent of what we see when our vision is impaired. These sheets were couched on top of overbeaten abaca papers which evoke the sound of leaves crackling underfoot as the pages turn.

"The text that was chosen to narrate Hunted is excerpted from Paul Willems’ "Cathedral of Mist." In this short story, darkness has a mysterious, spiritual quality and is the setting in which inanimate objects come alive through personification. Absence and presence are suggested simultaneously, leaving readers to question whether or not they are alone."
(SOLD/Out of Print)