Every so often something comes across the This Is Horror news desk that completely blindsides us, compelling us to dig a little deeper to discover the artists shaping the sights and sounds of our Horror experiences. Holly Francis is one such artist, and we are proud to get an exclusive with her to showcase a little of what she does.
Light and Dark. Subtle shades and tonal precision. Shadows that haunt the soul. The beauty here lies within the simplicity, as she conjures our fears subjectively, making it at once personal and relatable. Her art is primal, but it also taps into our collective unconscious; a rare gift so few artists today possess. She is as mysterious as her art, but perhaps that’s best left up for her to explain:
Mysteries and mythologies in deep-space and deep-time; Relics from a future thousands of years old, and Los Angeles’ 1923 Hollywoodland sign – it was the brightest thing in the world; Philip K Dick’s counterfeit world, Ballard’s Drowned world, Kafka’s low ceilinged world; Madame Blavatsky and barbarous cats, suburban monsters and Borges’ maps; Here be Dragons and amusement parks, and beneath the weeds a lost swimming pool in the dark; Carnivals, Medieval Cookbooks and A Canticle for Leibowitz; Beauties from Chekhov; Carl Sagan’s message for future explorers of Mars, and a good dose of the dauntless Wooster optimism from Wodehouse; Tesla, Tarot, Tech Noir, Tarkovsky and snow; A theater in ruins, a late night show; Ghostberries, ghost towns, Ghostbusters and ghosts in the machine; Escapism; The moon, Darkness at Noon, Yevgeny Zamyatin and how Titus was alone; Time travel, back to 1985; Félix Fénéon’s Novels in Three Lines; Magic, and a romantic doomsday for Odin and his ravens; Artemis the huntress; Riddley the walker; Playing make believe with candid eyes, stormy skies, pixels, bits and silence.
As for what we can expect from in her in the future:
In the future I would like to see what happens at the edge of the universe, or to go in search for an unknown island to find the mythical peaches of eternal youth and immortality, failing that I would like the book I am working on to find a publisher.
She left us with this quote, which best exemplifies her goal as an artist:
‘Every artist is born in an alien country; he has a homeland nowhere but within his own borders…’ Rainer Maria Rilke
Until Holly finds a publisher for her book, we here at This Is Horror can only share these images with you. Once you gaze upon her work, you’ll see why we hope to see any new work from her very soon. Please visit Holly’s website for more surreal, beautiful, and horrific art.
