Untitled (For Hudson)

By Mamie Holst

 

Long before 

Glimmered

Lingered

Passing

 

Endless summers

Sublimely

Back from 

Ribaldry

 

No thing

Else

Undetected

Settles in

 

Dreary days

Left this world

Forever

Hissing

 

Particularly trying

Needless to say

Nefarious 

Rigmarole. 

*This is not a narrative about Hudson. The words “No thing” is not a typo but came from one of his emails. He liked to goof around with words.

Mamie Holst (born Gainesville, Florida, 1961) has been working on a series of black, white and grey paintings titled “Landscape Before Dying,” since 1998. Each has a subtitle. She became ill with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), also unfortunately known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), a neuroimmune disease that affects the entire body, in 1989. Several years later she had to move back to Fort Myers, Florida, to live with her parents.  

Holst was represented by the “legendary” Hudson/ Feature Inc. gallery in New York City for 13 years until Hudson died unexpected in 2014. In a New York Times obituary Roberta Smith said that Hudson was “… one of the most prescient, independent-minded and admired gallerists of his generation.” “Hudson was a true mentor and a very generous soul and I will be forever grateful for everything he did for me,” said Mamie.

Holst’s work has been shown throughout the U.S. and in Europe and Canada. Solo shows include Feature Inc., Blondeau Fine Art Services, Geneva, Switzerland, Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College, Fort Myers, FL.,  Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL., The von Liebig Art Center, Naples, FL., Two person and group shows include 33 Orchard, Anton Kern Gallery, Yvon Lambert, Kerry Schuss, frosch&portmann, Bortolami Gallery, Salon Zurcher, Brian Morris Gallery, all in NYC. The Maramotti Collection, Reggio Emilia, Italy, Redling Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA., Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, Switzerland, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL., Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC., among others. She received her MFA degree from the School of Visual Arts, NYC. Awards include a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, Wynn Newhouse Award, Change Inc., Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant and a number of City of Fort Myers Individual Artists Grants. Her work has been reviewed in the New York Times, Artforum (Best Of 2003) and included in numerous other publications.