"I do not adhere to a style, except that a certain form creates certain possibilities. Maybe afterwards you can say that working in this way I do create a style. I believe that you create a style if you are faithful to a principle of form production. My principle for the time being is that I do not want a principle, but if I show one it is out of limitation. I am after content not style. As for the opposition figurative abstract it must be clear that figuration is also an abstraction. A painted pipe is not a pipe. The abstract sculpture of for instance Antoine Pevsner is actually a figuration of reality. This opposition only is meaningful as the expression of a contrast in styles in the beginning of the twentieth century and reflections thereof. All art is abstract. Reality is the only interesting subject. The question remains: what is reality?"
Prints-Drawings–Writings-Etcetera, a rich and colourful book documenting a life’s worth of creativity that provides an extensive overview of Holstein’s work; these works testify to Holstein’s range as an artist: coloured line drawings, surreal compositions of objects, swirling landscapes as well as abstract and expressionist paintings, with an interview with P.H. conducted by Marianne de Graaf, text in Dutch and English, binding: sewn and glued signatures, 25,5 x 18,5 cm, 294 pages, ed/1000, Amsterdam 2008
ISBN: 978-90-9021858-8
