Lonnie Bradley Holley

Place: Birmingham

Born: 1950

Biography:

Lonnie Bradley Holley, also known as the Sand Man, is an American artist, art educator, and musician born on February 10, 1950, in Birmingham, Alabama. He is best known for his assemblages and immersive environments made of found materials. Lonnie Bradley Holley has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at various institutions, including the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, the Michael C. Carlos Museum, the High Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Toledo Museum of Art, Pérez Art Museum Miami, NSU Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, de Young Museum in San Francisco, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C..

Early Life and Career

was born on February 10, 1950, in Birmingham, Alabama during the Jim Crow era. From the age of five, Holley worked various jobs: picking up trash at a drive-in movie theatre, washing dishes, and cooking. He lived in a whiskey house on the state fairgrounds and several foster homes. His early life was chaotic, and Holley was never afforded the pleasure of a real childhood.

Visual Art Career

began his artistic life in 1979 by carving tombstones for his sister's two children, who died in a house fire. He used blocks of a soft sandstone-like byproduct of metal casting, which he found discarded in piles by a foundry near his sister's house. Holley believes that divine intervention led him to the material and inspired his artwork.

• Lonnie Bradley Holley has been included in the representation of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation. Just Before Music (2012), Keeping a Record of It (2013), MITH (2018), National Freedom (2020), Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection, a collaboration with Matthew E. White (2021), and Oh Me Oh My (2023).
• Lonnie Bradley Holley has exhibited in group exhibitions at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the American Folk Art Museum, and the High Museum of Art.

works by Lonnie Bradley Holley can be found on https://Wikioo.org, including his painting After the Revival (Vox Humana III: The Strength of Music Lives After the Instruments Are Destroyed), created in 2017. This piece is a visually striking and thought-provoking artwork that delves into the essence of music and its enduring presence. For more information on Lonnie Bradley Holley and his work, visit https://Wikioo.org/@/Lonnie-Bradley-Holley or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonnie_Holley.