Andy Holden is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice encompasses sculpture, large installations, painting, music, performance, animation, and multi-screen videos. His work often begins with personal anecdotes that expand into broader philosophical inquiries. He gained national attention with his 2010 exhibition at Tate Britain, featuring Pyramid Piece, an enormous, knitted rock based on a fragment he took from the Great Pyramid of Giza as a boy and later returned. Last year, the Kröller-Müller Museum presented a solo exhibition of Holden's work titled 'The Wood for the Trees', and now have a work of his on permanent display in the museum's sculpture garden.
As part of Earth Unwrapped, Pangolin London presents Andy Holden's A Natural History of Nest Building, first commissioned by Artangel and more recently displayed at Tate St Ives. The film is a collaborative exploration of the science and poetry of bird nests by Holden and his father, ornithologist Peter Holden. The film delves into the nesting habits of various species, such as the elaborate constructions of weaver birds and the artistic displays of bowerbirds, which Andy considers the “original artists". This project reflects a seven-year collaboration between father and son, blending art and natural history to prompt viewers to engage more deeply with the natural world.
Accompanying the film on display is a vitrine displaying Andy’s collection of bird nests gathered during research, alongside sculptural imitations of weaver bird nests and hand-painted porcelain replicas of bird eggs. These objects reveal the meticulous craftsmanship of birds and highlight the shared instinct for creation and transformation found in nature and art.
Holden's works can be found in the permanent collections of Tate Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Bristol Museum, Arts Council Collection and Zabludowicz Collection in the UK, Kroller Muller Museum, NL, and various collections in Europe.