Selections from: the Robert E. Holmes Collection
Curated by: Marisa Caichiolo

For Bob Holmes who calls himself “a citizen of the world,” his art collection is a reflection of his life and times. The history of both colonial oppression by Europeans in Africa, the Caribbean, and Central and South America, and the history of slavery in the United States have created a warped perception of Black people as they have moved, or been forced to move, throughout the world. That perception has often created a narrow impression of Black people’s and other peoples of colors’ interests, limitations, possibilities and futures.

Holmes says, “As one steps out of the manner in which he is perceived, challenges widely held perceptions about the Black body, travels throughout the world and accumulates broad interests, that accumulated knowledge and experience can lift one out of seeing and being seen in a purely racial context, while at the same time, standing firmly upon the foundation of one’s ethnic culture.” In Holmes’ particular case, those tenets have enriched his life beyond the prescribed boundaries of narrow perceptions and identity, and have led to a broad collection of art that reflects his appreciation and love of rich cultural identities of so-called ethnic categories.

In his wide collection we can find a diverse offering of cultures through artists such as Dan McCleary, Matsumi Kanemitsu, Derrick Maddox, Charles White, Romare Bearden, Gronk, Deni Ponty, Betty Parsons, Elizabeth Catlett, David Alfaro Siquieros and Aime Mpane, among many others.