Holly Coulis persevered through harsh early reviews to earn critical success for her signature portraits and still lifes. Characterized by blocks of bold color, simple forms, and manipulation of depth, Coulisâs painterly style is distinctive, yet influenced by Ãdouard Manet, Pablo Picasso, Balthus, and Alex Katz. Her subjects, be they idiosyncratic invented characters or close-ups of fruits, vegetables, and floral bouquets, exude strong personality. Cabbage (2012), for example, evokes as much curiosity for a sliced-open purple vegetable as Snowball (2007) does for the life of the eponymous white domestic cat and the enigmatic woman on whose lap she lies.
