Recently, Phillips spoke with Adriana Oliver about the inspirations behind her practice...
PHILLIPS: You were born in Barcelona where you are still predominantly based. What impact would you say the city has had on the development of your work?
Adriana Oliver (AO): Barcelona is one of the most inspiring cities in terms of art and culture. The city is full of history in every corner. Back in 2013 when I started to paint, I lived in the city center and I had the art store supply next to my apartment/studio, I remember walking the streets, thinking about the new works and everything felt so inspiring and exciting, just the fact of going to buy brushes or paint and I have such a great memory of it. After finishing in the studio I visited local art galleries and exhibitions or any art event occurring in that day, it was very inspiring and It helped me so much to develop my practice.
PHILLIPS: Beyond your formal training as a photographer, the influence of photography on your work is also found in the cinematographic pictures from the 1950s and 1960s you cite as sources of inspiration. What specifically are you drawn to with these? What else informs your practice?
AO: I’ve been fascinated by black and white photography of the 1950s and 1960s ever since I was a child. Seeing movie posters or portraits in my grandmother’s home, I remember the powerful feeling those images caused and this influenced me all my life subliminal. There’s something so magical and heroic about the process of creating a portrait and developing film back then, as it has been such a respectful and honourable action. These characters being captured in those portraits presented to public have consisted in value and manifested in history as role models, forming whole generations. It feels like their magnitude has been frozen in time and with those portraits, live forever.
PHILLIPS: In paintings such as April of 1958, the title contributes to adding a sense of narrative. Is there a specific link behind this title?
AO: There is, absolutely. April 1958 marks a very important event in my family. The inspiration for this particular work has it’s origin in a personal family story that is kept present in conversations over generations. Years full of silence and separation for a long period of time. It is full of nostalgia, the yearn for union and urge to cross paths again. The character represents a father figure watching over his daughter from far in a very loving and protective way.
The embodiment of this character in my work, appearing powerful and protective, allows for many connotations. The wish to be protected and safe, it is almost a representation of an ideal scenario one would seek desperately from a perspective of aspiration and despair.
PHILLIPS: You have explained in a previous interview how your artworks can be considered ‘a chain of art history’. If you could have dinner with 3 artists, dead or alive, who would be at your table?
AO: It would be Sarah Morris, Louise Bourgeois and Barbara Kruger.
PHILLIPS: Though painting portraits, your subjects are depicted without facial features. What are you trying to convey through this ambiguity?
AO: We are living In a world that is becoming more and more individualised. With social media and technology, we are more connected than ever, but at the same time more lonely than ever. It’s difficult to experience deep connections as we live in a society that is extremely superficial and unsettled. The image of ourselves is more magnified than ever, so is our public image, but yet the lack of identity seems to be rising. My characters exist in their worlds seeking the same as everyone else, experiencing love and heartbreak, acceptance and rejection.
PHILLIPS: Can you share with us a little about what your studio is like right now? What does your current process look like and has it changed at all over the course of the pandemic?
AO: I have been working on a few different spaces. The last two years and a half I have been working on a very big studio and it’s been so nice because I had no limitations of any kind, I have been able to do the biggest works so far in that space. But I have been building my studio in my home..because I’m not a person that like to commute to go to work, I think work and life is one solid thing that can’t be separate, and truly the most important thing when you’re creating, is to have that possibility to develop your work at any time, in my case I like to work at night and I haven’t been able to do that yet. So getting in this new space is super exciting, is the studio, but is also home.
PHILLIPS: Your work has been exhibited in several solo shows, including at Moosey Art in London (2021); Dopeness Art Lab in Taipei (2020); and Gallery Target in Tokyo (2019). May we ask if you’re currently working on any project？
AO: I just opened my solo show in Tokyo last April with Gallery Target and SAI. And I want to take it a bit easy this rest of the year, I will be part of some group shows and art fairs and then I will work for my next solo show in Hong Kong February 2023 at Woaw Gallery.
