We were lucky to catch up with Stephen Holding recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Stephen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

In 2019 I was invited to paint a 2-story mural in Greensboro, North Carolina. At the time of leaving for the trip, I was two weeks out of surgery for an infected gall bladder that needed to be removed. I had been unemployed at the time, had very little money to spare, and given my modest status as. a muralist I wasn’t offered much in terms of compensation. I had quite a number of reasons to back out of this project, but my instincts told me that this was something that I really needed to do.

Upon arriving in Greensboro, I received an email from a recruiter who asked if I would like to be considered for a Sr. Graphic Designer position at the NFL. I had been applying for design jobs for over seven months at the point with no luck whatsoever, so to finally get an opportunity to apply for what I viewed to be a dream job was a sudden and much-needed boost of positive momentum.

The mural wound up being a success, and upon returning to New York I interviewed with the NFL and got the job. I can’t definitively say that taking the risk on such a large project directly led to the job opportunity that followed, but throughout my creative experience(s) over the past twenty years I’ve found that when you elect to go out in the world and do your best to create something beautiful, the effort is almost always rewarded, often times in unexpected ways.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

After completing my BFA in Painting at Mass Art in Boston in 2002, I moved to New York to pursue a career in art and design. I worked in the apparel industry for years, maintaining a painting studio practice and frequently painting murals both as a solo artist and collectively with my crew Project SF. From there my work evolved into a hybrid of design, illustration and painting, and this visual language still defines my process and style to this day.

My client work tends to vary quite a bit from project to project, as every brand has their own unique identity and vision. In terms of my own personal studio process, I am always finding new ways to combine my experiences working across different media into a cohesive style, and that personal stylistic development feeds right back into my client work.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Creativity has granted me so many incredible experiences in life. It demands constant attention and dedication, and at times it has seemed too difficult to continue to pursue…But I’ve found that the process of constantly reinventing myself has given me a meaningful lifelong pursuit. I feel lucky to have had the support and resources to continue to realize my creative vision.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I watched an interview with Robert Irwin, who is one of my all-time favorite artists. Before his death in October 2023, he had completed countless masterpieces and was widely considered a modern master. What I found the most interesting is when they visited his studio, he produced a huge stack of documents that were all rejected projects. I mean, page after page after page of rejected installations and proposals from some of the top institutions globally. It was at that moment that my view changed on the resilience and determination behind his work, and that the finished pieces that we see only tell a small part of a much larger story.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.holdingstudios.com/
• Instagram: @holdingstudios
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-holding/
• Youtube: @holdingstudios
• Other: stephenholding.com is my fine art website. It’s currently under construction and should be fully functional by early February.

Image Credits
All images are original works by Stephen Holding/Holding Studios.