Oliver Barnett

Based in Cape Town, I began my artistic journey over a decade ago while travelling through the remote areas of West Africa, before subsequently settling in the South west corner of the mother continent. It didn’t take long to fall under the influence of the wild elemental scenery of the Cape, so stark in contrast to the essentially manicured beauty of the English countryside in which I grew up.

The journey opened me up to new feelings, forming something of an infatuation with the diversity, complexity and self regulating intelligence of the natural world. At a time when there was a distinct sense that modern day humans were forming destructive rather than generative relationships with the Earth, this practice emerged as a way of reconnecting to older themes that to me seem to be embedded mythologies made visible in small details of the land.

Taking shapes, patterns and textures I discovered while walking, I break down the form of various found objects and then reassembles them into abstract compositions each with a unique yet lifelike appearance. I have held 5 solo gallery exhibitions, in Cape Town, the UK and Ibiza, between 2015-2021 with works placed in some reputable collections