Glenn Holman

Straight Down the Middle is a witty parable about work, friendship, art and education.It records the game of classroom golf, played at break times in an art studio in an art college somewhere in east London.The solemnity and formal austerity of the work is at odds with its comic subject matter and Holman skilfully exploits the pathos this engenders.

The clusters of objects, the standard stuff you would find in any art studio begin to take on a life of their own… they begin take on an importance similar to that which Giorgio Morandi imbues his humble collection of bottles and jars. The way the pins stand isolated against stark backgrounds makes the viewer begin to see them as almost human forms — the atmosphere of existential foreboding is always punctured by the fact of what the objects actually are- plastic golf flags from a 99p shop.

In his new book 'Spitfire' Glenn has made a piece that explores the wonder and excitement of childhood without resort to whimsy or sentimentality. The book is perhaps also a wry aside about the link between making objects like model aircraft and the impulse to make objects as 'Art' later in life. The book is the first of Floating Worlds new works commissioned by The Arts Council An Chomhairle Ealaion