Oliver Crowther

I wrestle with images. They occupy a space neither abstract nor figurative but somewhere in-between. I work from very small, to quite large, some pieces several meters in length. I work in whatever materials seem to present themselves as appropriate at the time, or are closest to hand, normally upon paper, brushed aluminium, and unstretched canvas.
Increasingly I find a sculptural potential suggested by the forms and spaces that materialize and I have begun to explore their dimensions physically. These ‘things’ may ultimately find their way back into the painting or begin an existence in their own right, either as standalone objects or as part of larger environments.

I work from memory, from drawings, from photographs. Childhood comics, found images and ephemera sometimes find their way in but largely I work by instinct, principally responding to what is in front of me. My studio time is charged with impulse and is almost entirely unpremeditated. Rough reworked surfaces and clumsy assemblage betrays the speed and haphazard urgency of a process engaged in a constant struggle to hang on to the moment.

The resulting works surprise me by their ability to articulate themselves in spite of me, in a language alien to me. They begin with me, are drawn from me even, but ultimately they leave me behind, confused and trying to understand what they are saying. In this way perhaps they make perfect sense.

Oliver lives and works in St.Leonards-on-sea, England and is currently enrolled on the MFA programme at Goldsmiths University, London.