Born and raised in Topeka, Kansas, Carl Holzman received a BA in English and French Literature from Swarthmore College and an MA in English Literature from The University of Chicago, before earning an MBA from The University of Chicago.  Working for many years in the publishing and healthcare industries, Holzman desired to develop his natural genius for drawing and painting.

More than ten years ago Holzman returned to his first calling--painting. Those earlier paintings displayed a remarkable range in subjects--portraits, macro flowers, abstracted imagery. In 2007 Holzman began exploring the complex and challenging genre of studio still life. With regard to this nuanced, evolving series, Holzman says, "A successful still-life arrangement, I think, should combine elements of the natural and the artificial in fresh ways consistent with the mood being communicated.  And that is what I have tried to do.  Of course the arrangement, once conceived and properly lit, needs to be bathed in the artist’s individual sensibility if it is to live.  I hope I have succeeded in breathing life into some of mine."

These very successful paintings pay homage to the richness of quietude, the magic of careful observation.