Philipp Hölke

Art

Paintings, mostly acrylic and ink.

20 works in the collection

A single white-and-red rose drawn in tangled, maze-like line over a heavy black field on white paper; its white stem is crossed by green thorn-marks, with hand-lettered white capitals beside it reading "Throw roses into the abyss."
Roses in the Abyss Acrylic and ink on paper, 2023
A raw, Basquiat-like figure of a politician drawn in white, orange, blue and magenta line over a black-and-purple field on white paper; a masked, blank-eyed face crowned with purple and gold rays, with hand-lettered capitals reading "One two three" above and "Don't turn your" below.
Anatomy of a Politician Acrylic and ink on paper, 2023
A raw, Basquiat-like standing figure with a yellow-patterned mask face, its body drawn as blue-and-white skeletal line over fields of magenta and teal on white paper; hand-lettered capitals across the top and right spell out Nietzsche's lines, "I am a forest and night of trees" and "he who is not afraid of my darkness will find banks of roses under my cypresses."
Banks of Roses Acrylic and ink on paper, 2023
Sold A large frontal face built from pale contour lines over a cobalt-blue field on white paper, one eye ringed in red with yellow lashes; a purple wash and a green passage at lower right, and hand-lettered black capitals across the top reading "Pain unlocks your innermost being."
The Key to Oneself Acrylic and ink on paper, 2023
A green painted field on white paper with a thick white sigma at the top, the word Fail in orange graffiti script below it, and two columns of hand-lettered failures in white capitals — one running down the right edge, one rotated up the left — dated THE SUM '23.
The Sum of Failures Acrylic and ink on paper, 2023
A pale field on paper crowded with Basquiat-like marks — a black dotted circuit board with a cable labelled plug me in, a white outlined heart, a cartoon face, two large eyes (one veined, one green with a red cross), stars, zigzags, and hand-lettered lines including Hi, I'm Sam, API to Elon, and for love 19 but a frequency.
Samantha Acrylic and ink on paper, 2023
A magenta-to-crimson field on white paper with a white outlined brain in the lower half, yellow inner folds, and a black line looping around it with arrows; above, thick lettering reads THE MIND USES ITSELF TO UNDERSTAND ITSELF, with a smaller aside, would you look at that.
Paradox of the Mind Acrylic and ink on paper, 2023
A red painted field on white paper with a white skeletal figure — box head, diamond eyes, stick ribs, two floating cylindrical hands — under lime-green capitals reading CHAOS; white lettering at left says let it guide me, with arrows, dollar signs, and a green smear at the top edge.
Chaos Theory Acrylic and ink on paper, 2023
A white field with a dark blue painted edge, two radiating black eyes at the top, an orange-smeared mouth with uranium written in white, a large blue two-prong plug as a nose, a row of stick figures on a zigzag line, and a blue banner at the bottom lettered RENEWABLE POWER over coal, gas, oil, kerosene, burning.
Eclectic Vehicles Acrylic, oil and ink on paper, 2023
A black field scuffed with white at the edges, a red-outlined hexagon and a blue spiral eye at the top, a pair of large orange lips across the middle, and white hand-lettered capitals below reading IF YOU GAZE INTO THE ABYSS THE ABYSS GAZES INTO YOU.
The Abyss Acrylic, ink and graphite on paper, 2023
A periwinkle-blue field on white paper with a white stick figure whose torso is wrapped in a black spiral coil; hand-lettered words include DEFICIT in a black oval, infinite surplus along the top, a perfect illusion at right, and a purple 2023.
Government Bond(age) Acrylic, ink and graphite on paper, 2023
A cobalt-blue field topped by a hot-pink band, a white halo radiating black ticks above a white-line skull with crossed-out eyes and a barred grin; at left, white capitals read I WAS WATCHING SATAN FALL FROM HEAVEN LIKE LIGHTNING, and below, NO ESCAPE.
BEAUTIFUL SURFACES, TERRIBLE DEPTHS Acrylic, graphite and ink on paper, 2023
Sold A dark oil painting crowded with scrawled text and signs — TRUST ME THEY SAID SO, WHAT DID THE FOX SAY, THE INTERNETS, LOST SO LOST WE CAN'T BE FOUND — a pink coiled form at left, a rose-coloured square, a Twitter bird, a Bluetooth-marked face, and dripping blue-black paint along the bottom.
Trust Issues Oil on canvas, 2023
A black canvas with a white silhouetted figure whose body is a collage of printed charts, notes and clippings, a face with two tiny photographic heads for eyes, a rising blue market line, a dollar sign, one million dollars lettered at right, and scrawled phrases including THE BIGGER THE BUBBLE and SPIKED out$ted.
Bubbles Acrylic, oil, paper and ink on canvas, 2023
Sold A canvas of scraped red, yellow and black with a centred black square holding a real matchbox — white matches, a printed X on the sleeve — and large black hand-lettered capitals below reading YOU MUST BE READY TO BURN IN YOUR OWN FLAME, then a smaller line, how else could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes.
Your Own Flame Acrylic on canvas, 2022
Sold A scraped purple-and-brown canvas with a large black-outlined unicorn head, square eyes and a striped horn, white hand-lettered lines reading yeah we like to think of ourselves as sparring partners and chasing my pet you need corn, with invest grow along the bottom.
VENTURE CRAPITAL Acrylic on canvas, 2022
Sold A black canvas with a dark teal bottle silhouette at left, a US one-dollar bill, a white-outlined wine glass filled with green scribbles, two small red-filled glasses, and large pale lettering reading SHAM PAIN SO SHALL IS, plus smaller scrawls including fill up the cup.
SHAM PAIN SO SHALL IS Acrylic on canvas, 2022
A dark green, heavily brushed canvas with a clear plastic syringe hanging point-down above a US dollar bill folded into a fan, the two objects centred like a medical still life.
Liquidity Injection Acrylic, oil, plastic and paper on canvas, 2022
Sold An oil canvas of thick, dragged strokes in pink, red, yellow, white and black; a dark curved form at lower left reads as a shoulder or hip against a vertical rush of red and pale paint.
Basorexia Oil on canvas, 2021
A square canvas of horizontal scraped bands — dark brown-black at the top, then chalky white, rust and bruised purple — reading as an American flag whose stars have been painted out and whose stripes have been dragged until they almost fail.
GoodBiden, America Acrylic, oil, marker and charcoal on canvas, 2021