LOUIS OLIVIER
(b. 1976, Vereeniging, South Africa)

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. 

The artist has done corporate commissions for Sasol and Rand Merchant Bank (RMB). The popular ‘DIFFERENTLY THINK.’ bronze and concrete bench at the street level entrance to Merchant Place was RMB’s contribution to Sandton’s Benchmark Project in collaboration with Louis Olivier – his first publicly located piece. He is also currently busy with the impressive Think Benches for RMB – a large scale project that has been underway for a few years. 

In 2009, Olivier formed part of the Artspace Mentorship Program and was mentored by the established artist Wilma Cruise a greatly respected South African artist. He now lives and works in Johannesburg after moving his studio from Pretoria in 2012 to establish Workhorse, a bronze foundry and art studio situated in Marshalltown, Johannesburg.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2015
Crtitical Mass, Lizamore & Associates, Johannesburg, South Africa

2013
Fragment, Artspace (now Lizamore & Associates), Johannesburg, South Africa

2012
Beginsel, Worldart Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2011
(Man)nerism, Artspace (now Lizamore & Associates), Johannesburg, South Africa

2009
Pale Male (under the metorship of Wilma Cruise), Artspace, South Africa
(now Lizamore & Associates), Johannesburg, South Africa

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2020
Bronze, Steel, Stone & Bone, Everard Read, London, UK

2019
SUMMER, Everard Read, London, UK

2016
Commune, Carol Lee Fine Art, Johannesburg, South Africa

2015
Bronze, Steel & Stone, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Winter Group Show, Everard Read Gallery, Cape TownNirox Winter Fair, Nirox Sculpture Park, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa

2014
Summer Season Group Show, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Summer of Sculpture, Mount Nelson, Cape Town, South Africa
Play, Nirox Sculpture Park, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa
Pilgrim, Lizamore & Associates, Johannesburg, South Africa
Making the Map, Lizamore & Associates, Johannesburg, South Africa

2013
Interface, Carole Lee Fine Art, Johannesburg, South Africa

2011
Momento, Carol Lee Fine Art, Johannesburg, South Africa
Collaboration, Carol Lee Fine Art, Johannesburg, South Africa

2010
And What Now?, Grande Provence, Franschoek, South Africa
Here & There, Carol Lee Fine Art, Johannesburg, South Africa

SELECTED ART FAIRS:

2015
Turbine Art Fair, Lizamore & Associates, Johannesburg, South Africa
Cape Town Art Fair, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2014
Joburg Art Fair, Lizamore & Associates, Johannesburg, South Africa
Turbine Art Fair, Lizamore & Associates, Johannesburg, South Africa

2012
Joburg Art Fair, Artspace (now Lizamore & Associates), Johannesburg, South Africa
Klein Karoo Kunste Fees (KKNK), Ik ben een Afrikaner, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

2011
Joburg Art Fair, Artspace (now Lizamore & Associates), Johannesburg, South Africa

2010
Joburg Art Fair, Artspace (now Lizamore & Associates), Johannesburg, South Africa

EXPERIENCE AND COLLABORATIONS:

2014
Collaboration with William Kentridge on Roman and Polychromed Head, South Africa

SCULPTURE SERIES

2013
Collaboration with William Kentridge on Rebus Sculpture series, South Africa

2012 – 2014
Founder and Director at Workhorse Bronze Foundry, Johannesburg, South Africa

2011 – 2012
Studio Assistant at William Kentridge Studio, Johannesburg, South Africa

COMMISSIONS AND PROJECTS:

2019
Think Bench, Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa

2014 – 2015
think.STOP project, Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa

2013
Alfred Mangena, National Heritage Project, South Africa

2011 – 2012
Refusal of Time, William Kentridge Studio (dOCUMENTA13), South Africa

2011
Ossymandius series (in collaboration with Wilma Cruise), Joburg Art Fair, South Africa
Sasol Wild Dog Award trophy (bronze), South Africa

2010
Sasol Honeybird Award trophy (bronze and steel), South Africa
Maestro (bronze), Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa

2008 – 2009
Thinker Bench (Benchmark Project), Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa

2007 – 2008
Thinker Bookends (edition of 250, bronze and stainless steel), Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa

2006
Spirit of Sasolburg (bronze, stone cast and rusted metal), Sasol, South Africa

PRIVATE COMMISSIONS:

2011
Rammed Earth, standing figure installation, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2010
Man Standing (steel), South Africa

COLLECTIONS:

Ellerman House
Rand Merchant Bank