Lonnie Holley New Zealand Shows Announced

US soul experimentalist and visual artist Lonnie Holley is heading to Aotearoa this June for a pair of unmissable headline events in Auckland and Wellington, brought to you by the hard working team at Tāmaki Makaurau's Audio Foundation. Touring here following the release of Holley's critically lauded third album MITH, whose powerful lead single 'I Woke Up in a Fucked-Up America' made Pitchfork's top 20 songs of 2018, the African-American artist and art educator's sculptures and paintings have been exhibited in such storied spaces as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, and The Whitney Museum of American Art. Holley will be joined by US drummer Marlon Patton for both events with local supports to be announced, grip the details here...

UPDATE 10/06/19: support artists for all NZ events have been announced..

Audio Foundation presents... Lonnie Holley

Friday 14th June – Meow, Wellington w/ Gerard Crewdson with Orchestra of Spheres
Saturday 15th June – Auckland Unitarian* w/ Kr-Moon (Kraus / Ro Rushton-Green)
Tuesday 18th June – The Cook, Dunedin* w/ Francisca Griffin
Wednesday 19th June – Space Academy, Christchurch* w/ Low / Derrick / McCallum (Geoff Low, Reuben Derrick, Joe McCallum)

Tickets available HERE via UTR*

Experience the dazzling video for ' 'I Woke Up in a Fucked-Up America' from his 2018 album MITH...

Watch the clip for 'All Rendered Truth' from 2012's Just Before Music...

Press release:

Audio Foundation is pleased to announce two very special shows for critically-acclaimed Alabama-born artist, educator and musician Lonnie Holley.

Lonnie Holley was born on February 10, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama one of 27 children during the Jim Crowe-era; he was traded for a bottle of whisky when he was four. From the age of five, Holley worked various jobs: picking up trash at a drive-in movie theatre, washing dishes, and cooking. He lived in a whiskey house, on the state fairgrounds, and in several foster homes. His early life was chaotic and Holley was never afforded the pleasure of a real childhood.

'...everything I've experienced, I've made a piece of art to go along with it.' Lonnie Holley

Since 1979, Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. His art and music, born out of struggle, hardship, but perhaps more importantly, out of furious curiosity and biological necessity, has manifested itself in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, and sound. Holley’s sculptures are constructed from found materials in the oldest tradition of African American sculpture. Objects, already imbued with cultural and artistic metaphor, are combined into narrative sculptures that commemorate places, people, and events. His work is now in collections of major museums throughout the country, on permanent display in the United Nations, and been displayed in the White House Rose Garden. In January of 2014, Holley completed a one-month artist-in-residence with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation in Captiva Island, Florida, site of the acclaimed artist’s studio.

Most recently his 2018 album MITH was released on Jagjagwar, with his single 'I Woke Up in a Fucked-Up America' making Pitchfork's top 20 songs of 2018. His work has also been featured in some of the biggest art galleries in the United States; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, and The Whitney Museum of American Art to name a few.

For his NZ shows Lonnie will be joined by drummer Marlon Patton (USA) and local supports.