Four Inane Questions with artist Bryce Holt
Photo Courtesy of Bryce Holt
After toiling away in corporate America for two decades, Bryce Holt threw caution to the wind in 2021 and became a full-time artist. Talk about a career shift. Holt tells us, that in the past three years, he’s created over 200 pieces of art. His vibe? Think colorful pop art meets cultural awareness. He tells us that he’s currently working on an 18-painting series called “In Sickness and In Health”—focusing on medical and healthcare topics relevant to today.
“I love creating art and I want to create as much work as possible,” Holt says. “I’ll create about 70 paintings this year, and I’ve already planned out my work into 2025.”
As if that wasn’t enough, the oft-busy Holt and his brother Kyle are the co-founders behind The Patrons—an organization focused on creating art, collecting art, and supporting other living artists. “I truly started creating art in my forties, so I feel like I’m working against the clock,” he says. “So much to paint and so little time.” You can peruse all of Holt’s artwork at ThePatrons.com or on Instagram @ThePatrons.
We caught up with Holt in between bouts of cleaning out his paint brushes to zing him with our quippy questionnaire. Five words: Paint fumes for the win!
The Pitch: Money is no object. What piece of artwork are you buying for yourself?
Bryce Holt: Salvador Dali’s “The Hallucinogenic Toreador.” When I talk to my seven-year-old daughter, I emphasize that there’s no such thing as a perfect painting, song, moment, etc. It helps us both come to grips with perfection not being the goal: Belief in your capabilities, staying in the game, and the pursuit of bettering oneself is what’s paramount.
But it’s a lie. There are a rare few perfect works of art, and this is one of them. It’s so flawless that you don’t consider where you would put it in a house or museum, but how you build the museum or house around this singular painting’s greatness. Almost nothing like it exists that I know of, and it rivals any painting I can think of short of Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus,” which is a strong second.
Finish this sentence: The best birthday gift I ever received was …
Super Mario Bros. 3, when I turned 10 years old. My birthday is March 8th, and the game was released on February 12, 1990. It was the first “run” on a game I ever saw, and you couldn’t find a copy—even on the black market. So, to open my eyes on my birthday and see that my mother had somehow broken into a truck or knocked off a Toys-R-Us late one night and stole it for me, still thrills me 34 years later.
Photo Courtesy of Bryce Holt
Admit it. What’s your rock, paper, scissors strategy?
I tend to hesitate right up until the other person says three. I watch them—fully prepared—start to make a gesture, clam up, and throw down paper. It’s a pretty soft thing to say about oneself, but while I have little, to no hesitation in art, work, and most life decisions, these sorts of games really pull out the losing strategy in me.
This question really stings, given that now every time I play this with my kid, she’s going to have read this and throw down scissors.
If you were a dog, what breed of dog would you be?
A corgi mixed with any other dog. Have you seen these things?! It’s basically whatever the other dog’s breed is in the shape of a corgi. I don’t know why we haven’t gone full Gregor Mendel cross-breeding corgis by this point.
In the paintings I create, I love having two unlike elements and combining them to make something unique, so it should come as no surprise that seeing an 18-inch tall golden retriever-corgi mix is right up my alley.
Bonus 5th Question: Who is your all-time favorite reality TV show participant/celeb?
Gordon Ramsey. You march around a kitchen. You taste a master chef’s works of culinary art, then dash the dish onto the floor. You scream some obscenities.
It’s just your average Tuesday, and you’re netting $250,000 per episode. Gordon’s gig is really something.
