Simon Holly

b. 1979, Bridgend, Wales
Lives and works in Rhoose, Wales

Mohammed-Marylin, installation shot 2008
Mohammed-Marylin, installation shot 2008

Working within digital media, Simon Holly is interested in the issue of cloning, the process of sampling, taking a mass of structural information and placing it within a new construction. Working with pixel sized pieces of information he is interested in how they become signifiers only when placed alongside like or unlike information.


A grid system underpins this collage work. Glossy low-culture posters are deconstructed, and meticulously re-assembled, transformed and subverted. Square by square, a poster of a tropical idyll is re-ordered as a symmetrical pattern, a motorcycle becomes a bowl of cherries, Marylin Monroe, an icon of feminine sexuality is reconfigured into Mohammed Ali, the ultimate fighting machine and vice versa.

After graduating in Nottingham Simon returned to Wales and was an active part of the artscene in Cardiff before recently re-locating. He is also a writer, having contributed to publications by ffotogallery and a regular reviewer for AN magazine. Simon showed with g39 in 2004 as part of ‘Flim Flam’ a group show. His first solo exhibition ‘The Tipyn Point’ was shown at g39 in November 2008.

The artist was in the following exhibitions:
Flim Flam
Simon Holly : The tipyn point
The Last Days of The Empire
UNIT(e) 2015
This artist is featured in:
Show One Of Each 3

This artist is featured in:
It Was Never Going To Be Straightforward
  • Break On Through (To The Other Side) 2007
  • Mohammed-Marylin 2006
  • Marylin-Mohammed 2006
  • Detail of Western Cwm, Everest 2008
  • Dukati 999k 2008
  • Mohammed-Marylin, installation shot 2008