O L IVIA STAN TO N A RETROSPECTIVE
Cover image; Easthill 2012. Oil on canvas 46 x 44 cm
OLIV I A STA N TO N A RE TROS PEC T I VE
29 October - 19 November 2016
photographed by Dan Stevens
In conversation with Olivia Stanton ‘Keep it minimal’, is the request that the delightful artist Olivia Stanton makes when I call to talk to her about her upcoming retrospective at the gallery. Her work, she explains, is simply about colour and form. Conscious that she does not want to tell us what to see, she prefers to share what she sees and let the work speak for itself. We can then contemplate it as we wish. When you are in a room of her pieces, which in this case spans over 20 years of creative output, it is evident that her own exploration has been a joyful journey, steeped in colour, made by a painter able to convey her visual language with a masterly talent for making a mark on canvas.
Her work though is also a colour-rich expression of the everyday and what she sees about her - ‘life’ she says. She is a keen walker, and finds that she is attracted to live in places where there is a path to follow that leads her out into nature. In France she lived near a route that took her up into the Pyrenees Mountains and now that she has returned to the UK, and her home in West Sussex, there is a lane that leads her to the sea. She is in awe of nature, its wildness and wonders. Born in Norfolk, she was always interested in art and writing. Yet, it wasn’t until after she worked at the Courtauld Institute’s Conway Library where she experienced the creative energy and company of influential figures, and the admirable Sir Anthony Blunt, that she applied to Byam Shaw School of Art, aged 24. Stanton describes this time as ‘life-changing’. It was to be the start of her journey as an artist. We discuss what has occupied her, how she has progressed her style and approached her creative development, in these intervening years. Her early landscapes were in pastels and more figurative in style, which she later changed to work in the medium of oil paint. After she left France, her paintings became more abstract and structured and she reflects that her recent work is perhaps more about building and balance. There is no palette that she sticks to and she is constantly evolving and experimenting with her use of colour. She tells me that she will work on two paintings at a time to make sure that nothing is the same. She also notes that her titles won’t always relate directly to a piece but to an event that was happening in the world at that point – ‘Passing Go’ is a nod to the start of the Iraq war and ‘Divide and Rule’ connects to the coalition government. She is not without influence and she remarks on R B Kitaj and Gillian Ayres ‘both superb’ and further back to Gaugin, as well as commenting on Japanese wood blocks – ‘I like the way they organise black’. She is well travelled too and the ideas she gathers will make their way into her work. Stanton has not always been able to practise full time as an artist and, since 1973, the one constant has been working at the iconic art shop Green and Stone of Chelsea, with owner Rodney Baldwin. It is a place where she has learnt a lot about paint, materials and met many great modern and contemporary painters. She still works there to this day and notes its importance to her personally. As we finish our conversation, she has generously shared her thoughts. We come back to her work primarily being about the art of picture making and colour, yet she also comments that it is necessary to take the time to ‘look’ and be ‘truthful’. It is enigmatic but a quality that features in much of her work. It is hard to pin these things down but as she says, ‘Each one is always a surprise’. Candida Stevens
1. Dam, 1994 Oil on canvas 97 x 82 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
2. Trickledown, 1994 Oil on canvas 122 x 137 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
3. Coast Village, 1994 Oil on canvas 106 x 92 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
4. Life in the Slow Lane, 1994 Oil on canvas 132 x 163 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
5. Vandange 2, 1995 Oil on canvas 87 x 79 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
6. Goat’s Pen, 1997 Oil on canvas 133 x 106 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
7. Rouge Anglais, 1999 Oil on canvas 93 x 83 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
8. Aureolin, 2000 Oil on canvas 87 x 83 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
9. Lavender & Vine, 2001 Oil on canvas 142 x 117 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
10. Copycat, 2002 Oil on canvas 123 x 133 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
11. Rouge Anglais 2, 2002 Oil on canvas 79 x 65 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
12. Passing Go, 2003 Oil on canvas 70 x 62 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
13. Two by Two, 2003 Oil on Canvas 69 x 85.5 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
14. Earthed, 2006 Oil on canvas 81 x 71 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
15. Two Across, 2006 Oil on canvas 31.5 x 33 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
16. Front Line, 2007 Oil on canvas 71 x 82 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
17. 28 Across, 2007 Oil on canvas 46.5 x 46 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
18. Green Rush , 2008 Oil on canvas 43 x 42 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
19. Quartet, 2008 Oil on canvas 122 x 163 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
20.
21.
Divide & Rule 4, 2011 Oil on canvas 30.5 x 30.5 cm
Divide & Rule 7, 2011 Oil on canvas 30.5 x 30.5 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
22.
23.
Divide & Rule 2, 2011 Oil on canvas 30.5 x 30.5 cm
Divide & Rule 6, 2011 Oil on canvas 30.5 x 30.5 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
24.
25.
Divide & Rule 10, 2013 Oil on canvas 30.5 x 30.5 cm
Divide & Rule 11, 2014 Oil on canvas 30.5 x 30.5 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
26. Perimeter, 2011 Oil on canvas 112 x 110 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
27. Jubilee, 2011 Oil on canvas 127 x 117 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
28.
29.
Easthill, 2012 Oil on canvas 46 x 44 cm
Hightail, 2012 Oil on canvas 46 x 44 cm
30. Hola I, 2014 Oil on canvas 46 x 44.5 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
31.
32.
Eclipse I, 2015 Oil on canvas 54.5 x 52 cm
Eclipse 2, 2015 Oil on canvas 54.5 x 52 cm
33.
34.
Eclipse 3, 2015 Oil on canvas 54.5 x 52 cm
Eclipse 4, 2015 Oil on canvas 54.5 x 52 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
35. Double Bind, 2003-15 Oil on canvas 149 x 116 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
36. Clearing, 2003-16 Oil on canvas 72 x 65 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
37. Follow Through, 2003-5 Oil on canvas 97.5 x 81.5 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
38. Something Borrowed, 2005-16 Oil on canvas 128 x 117 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
39. White Lie, 2008-14 Oil on canvas 47 x 46 cm
O L I V I A STA N TO N A R E T R O S PE C T IVE
Photography of artwork: © Candida Stevens Fine Art Portrait of Olivia Stanton: © Dan Stevens Catalogue ©Candida Stevens Fine Art Published by Candida Stevens Fine Art 2016 All rights reserved.
+44 (0)1243 528401 cs@candidastevens.com www.candidastevens.com
12 Northgate Chichester West Susssex PO19 1BA
O LIVIA S TA N TO N A RETROSPECTIVE
+44 (0)1243 528401 cs@candidastevens.com www.candidastevens.com
12 Northgate Chichester West Susssex PO19 1BA