Thrush Holmes is a Toronto-based painter who explores traditional artistic themes in an aggressive, unapologetically contemporary way, contrasting poetic tropes with a punk sensibility. Romantic and idealistic, his naive forms (nudes, rainbows, still life florals) reference modernists like Picasso and Matisse, dissolving studies further into dripping, crude gestures of oil stick and neon light. Besides two weeks of art school, where he quit after being told he couldn’t fast-track to his final year, he is entirely self-taught. Holmes’ process mirrors his ambitions. 20-ft paintings are made in a single sitting, and the initials ‘TH’ are often large enough in the bottom corner of a piece to be considered a compositional element. Holmes’ newest works have begun to add nostalgia and introspection to an ongoing analysis of mythology, archetypes, and ego.

Holmes’ work is found in permanent collections worldwide including the Elton John Aids Foundation, Sony Music, Dreamworks Studio, Detroit Art Collection and Def Jam Records among others.