For the first time in a few years, the last year or two has felt like the ground shifting beneath my feet. Unusually, I've felt uncertain about where I'm headed. Maybe it's just a phase, or maybe it's something more existential. Is it the reality of running a business on my own? Or is it that as I edge further into my thirties, it feels like there is more on the line? Why is it that everything suddenly feels like VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS?

How could it not? Optimisation sits at the centre of everything we do. If my sleep score drops below 80%, I'm fucked. If I don't eat enough greens, also fucked. Then there's motherhood, back-up plans, mortgages and, god forbid, TAX!

Too often, I find myself reminiscing my early twenties, a time when my biggest dilemma was whether it was a good idea to spend the last of my savings on a round of margaritas for my friends. Nine times out of ten, the answer was yes, followed by a week of canned tuna and microwaved rice until my next minimum-wage pay cheque rolled around.

Something I’ve pondered more than once, is the possibility that maybe none of this is actually that deep. The more I convince myself everything is very serious business, the more stagnant everything becomes. Honestly, it's a bit like pushing shit uphill.

This isn't to downplay the things that are in fact serious business. The world at large feels dark and heavy, and there are plenty of things that warrant our concerns. But I do wonder if we've started giving very serious business (VSB) status to things that don’t necessarily warrant the title. VSB status should not be given lightly.

VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS considers my own tendencies to treat life as though the stakes are impossibly high. The works draw on the small, often contradictory moments that make up everyday life, translating them through gestural and impulsive mark-making and playful motifs. I'm interested in creating paintings that feel curious rather than certain. A place where humour and lightness sit comfortably alongside more complex emotions, and light existing within the darkness.

I hope you love these works, thank you for being here!

Love Holly xx