A maker of craft objects and art, Oliver’s creative output equally reflects the influence of his studies at the Elam School of Fine Arts as it does his work as a woodworker and fabricator. While drawn to wood as his primary medium, Oliver’s practice is also linked by an attitude about making. The process of making an art work or an object is just as important to Oliver as the final product. His work illustrates a value on place and time, skill and consideration, with his Re/Cognition series examining the way in which both sound and crafted objects are intertwined with memory and time.
For Oliver, his attitudes towards his artist practice extends to his making of furniture, jewellery and craft objects which he sees as part of his artistic output rather than separate from it.
Oliver was among the four New Zealanders selected to exhibit at TALENTE in Munich, one of Europe’s most prestigious art fairs.
I am preoccupied with sound, time, memory, and exploring them through physical forms.