Holly Eckwejunor-Etchie's "The Show of Many Names"

Fulton Street Collective’s Holly Eckwejunor-Etchie put on her first solo exhibition last Friday, and it was a blast.

The atmosphere was intensely positive; you could feel it as soon as you walked through the front door. The floor is fairly sizable, yet throughout the night, it was consistently full of people. Among them were a number of the artist’s friends and family, as well as a number of other warm, funny characters I had the pleasure of meeting. Holly and her family also provided a huge spread of delicious food and locally-made wine and beer for their very appreciative guests.

Every single wall in the room was full of Holly’s work, including some very recent additions to her portfolio. Much of her work consists of oil paintings of surreal, distorted human figures. Each one harbors incredible depth; each one seems to have their own story. A few of the guests I spoke to lent me their interpretation of each, and in every case, I was pleasantly surprised to find they had interpreted the piece in question from an entirely different angle than I had initially considered.

There was one piece I kept coming back to – it seemed to be a figure of a man with small, beady eyes and long, claw-like fingers. My first impression was that the piece invoked malice and, according to Holly, I was not the only one to have made that conclusion. Something about it drew me back though, and after looking more closely at its eyes, I saw the figure differently…it seemed to convey a furtive vulnerability which I found deeply moving.

Holly’s non-character pieces were equally evocative. One in particular, titled “Reluctant Soul”, had people crowded around it all night. “Maya and the Houses”, one of her more recent pieces, was also on display; it’s an interesting piece that explores feelings of place and identity, and how the two are related.

All in all, the event was a hit. If you’d like to see more of Holly’s work, you can check out her website, hollyekwejunor-etchie.com, or visit her Instagram page @etchiestudio.