Lot 75.

Oil on linen stretched onto wooden panel: “In water there is a small gift” by Oliver Marr
(Price Guide: R12,500)

This painting was made en pleinair of Abott’s Cliff on Folkestone, UK.

Oliver Marr (he/they, b.1995, South Africa) is a figurative painter who lives and works in London. Oliver graduated from the University of Cambridge (2020) where his research focussed on the interconnections between human society and natural systems. After graduating, Oliver worked for three years under the guidance of British artist, David Williams-Ellis, where he developed a practice investigating his connection to landscape through painting. Oliver has attended residencies in France and South Africa and exhibits regularly in group shows. Oliver had his first solo show (2021) with Windsor Gallery in South Africa and has recently presented with North Coast Asylum Gallery in the UK (June 2024).

Oliver makes his paints from raw pigment and prepares surfaces of linen or paper with rabbit skin glue and chalk. Relying on an urgency in mark-making, Oliver paints en pleinair, and is interested in the blurring of boundaries that happens as objects are abstracted to volume and colour. The idea of queer ecology comes to mind as Oliver captures the shifting identities of the landscape. In light of this, the titles of Oliver's paintings reference our relationship with the landscape in the face of climate change, and the dissonance between despair and hope.

Working on a smaller scale allows Oliver to carry more panels to and from a painting location. Because of the modest size of his work, the viewer has the agency to look or not. In this way, Oliver references how engaging with the landscape is a subtle but active choice, the outcome of which is increasingly important.

Exhibitions:

Upcoming - Norwich Print fair (group show), Blue Shop Gallery

2024 - East of the River (solo show), North Coast Asylum Gallery, UK

2024 - Works on Paper 6 (group show), Blue Shop Gallery, UK

2023 - Charity Auction (group show), North Coast Asylum and the Auction Collective, UK

2023 - Verdant (group show), North Coast Asylum Gallery, UK

2022 - Perseids (group show), Irving Gallery, UK

2022 - Awake Arise (group show), Irving Gallery, UK

2022 - Works on Paper 4 (group show), Blue Shop Gallery

2021 - Dix Artistes (group show), Blue Shop Gallery, UK

2021 - The Act of Looking (solo show), Windsor Gallery, UK

Residencies:

2021 - Amassa residency (France), Blue Shop Gallery

2021 - Kalk Bay residency (South Africa), Windsor Gallery

Email: hello@olliemarr.com
Website: www.olliemarr.com
Instagram: @olliemarr