David Holliday is an artist who uses photography as a starting point to create his own vision of the cityscape that surrounds him.
His latest photographic works, which are exhibited at The Insider Gallery at the InterContinental Hotel, are actually printed on canvas, the images having gone through numerous steps in production since he first looked at the scenes through the lens of his camera.
“It’s like painting with light: It doesn’t look like a photograph anymore,” he said.
This series entitled “Structures” features buildings in Phnom Penh, Kampot town and Siem Reap City as well as details of Angkorian monuments.
Once Mr. Holliday has found a subject he likes, he will take hundreds of photos of it, select the best 30 or so and then, posting them on a regular school whiteboard, starts to create the final image.
“I incorporate sketches and pastels,” he said. “I make up montages, enhancing them with pastel crayons and scraps of papers.”
His work “White Building” consists of a series of images of staircases in shades of brown, blue and brick red that convey the busyness of the place.
“Temple Green” is also a mosaic of photos featuring details of monuments in Angkor Archaeological Park rendered in gray, green and burned gold.
But “The Church Arch,” whose inspiration is the church on Bokor Mountain, consists of a single image rendered in pale blue and brown that takes one back to another era.
Born in a family of artists in England, Mr. Holliday lived in Australia for 15 years where he became involved with the artist community, co-founding a native art gallery and regularly working for the Sculptors Society in Sydney.
He has been living in Cambodia for four years. His exhibition at the Insider Gallery runs through April 11.
