Louis Olivier

Louis Olivier is a sculptor based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Born in 1976, in Vereeniging, he grew up in Bethal in Mpumalanga. He graduated with a degree in Information Technology from the University of Pretoria in 1998. Olivier worked in the IT field for three years and then made a dramatic career change in 2001, to work as a fulltime artist.

He works in various media such as sculpture, drawing and installations. Olivier creates from the unknown depths of the heart and presently often uses cardboard to sculpt with. He sees his position as an artist as that of a dragoman, an interpreter of the formless and the invisible, facilitating communication between the soul and matter. It is this process that contributes to his choice in materials. The present – which is what he focuses on - requires an immediate response, an expeditious choice of materials.

The artist operates with a strong sense of ubiety which becomes evident when he surrenders to making. Olivier analyzes and interprets clues given by the forms he’s interacting with. He sees and then only understands what the figure tries to convey. Then he adds and bends in order to comply with what the shape needs. This cyclical interaction between the artist’s eye and his response to what he sees, is repeated until the completion of this process where form leads the concept and not vice versa. And then finally the form exists, animated and alive.

Submitted by Everard Read