Featured Artist Eric Oliver

Enjoy this portfolio from the imagination of artist Eric Oliver, who uses an unusual technique in his artwork. Find out more about him by visiting his website.

 

 

I am a visual artist living and working in Los Angeles.

A chronic observer, growing up in New York City fostered much of my fascination with the urban setting and its components. Having inherited a passion for photography from my father (an avid amateur photographer always with a camera around his neck and a darkroom in the pantry), I went on to graduate from Stanford with a BFA in photography.

 

 

In the late 90’s I began experimenting with scanners, finding them to be an intriguing tool–scanning objects and manipulating the image as it was being scanned and after, creating artworks with the results.

 

 

I currently work with the full range of photographic processes, both digital & chemical, as well as with paint and pastel, often alternating between media. Each influences, informs, and provides some relief from the other.

 

 

Most of the work I do is the product of a life-long interest in observing my environment and not(ic)ing where and when nature and technology are bound, both in conflict and in cooperation and could, at times, be considered one in the same.

 

 

I have been–for as long as I can remember–in an exploratory stage with my art. Most of the work I’ve done until now has primarily been a product of exploration of a subject, material or method.

 

 

The ever-changing colors, geographies, shapes, and shadows encountered during daily life generally serve as the impetus for my work.

 

 

“Baked” is a current ongoing series of images created by cooking oil onto metal sheets to create marks and patterns reminiscent of old cookie sheets and then digitally re-mastering those “plates” to create large format prints.

 

 

I’ve heretofore always tended to work in general terms. That is, exploring the basics of color, shape, scale, line, contrast and balance.

 

 

Painting is relatively new to me although I’d dabbled with it some in college as required. After years of working digitally, I started to paint as a way of once again having my “hand” in my art. I consider the paintings to be physical representations of my everyday visual impressions while the prints I’m currently working on are visual representations of everyday physical impressions.

 

 

My close ties with the entertainment industry (over 20 years as an Assistant Director for film and television) continue to provide me with great opportunities for creating unique and interesting work for use by art departments as props and set dressing and for private and corporate collectors and clients from around the world.

Eric Oliver invites you to follow him on Facebook.