insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 07 - September 2015 | Page 17

ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT

ARTIST PROFILE:
Robert Olliver-Jones is a Sussex-based artist with a love of the strange and disturbing.
Yet he can turn these unusual and uncomfortable subjects into truly exceptional
pieces of art that become beautiful just as they make the viewer question why.
We delved a little deeper into his thought processes, and the resulting art.
What inspired your love of art?
I was quite isolated as a child and spent most
of my time indoors. I started to paint people
(faces mainly) and became totally fixated by
the fact that I could create a character, a
personality of somebody; I used to imagine
that these people actually existed somewhere
in the world. I was also fascinated by Greek
mythology; the fantastical stories and the way
these stories were represented by the classical
artists. I love the way the sculptors captured
the fabric and I became fascinated with how to
draw and create that myself. Whilst I’m not a
practicing Christian, I was brought up Roman
Catholic and I think that has influenced my
work and how I tell stories through my work
and the narratives that I use.
What is your favourite piece of work
so far?
I create collections of paintings often painted
around one particular story; each painting will
tell a different part of that story and within that
collection I will probably have a favourite, but

I learnt very early on that you can’t really have
too many favourites because you have to say
goodbye to them anyway. My favourites may
not be the same ones that other people think
were the most successful but I know they
are. It may have been that I have overcome
a particular challenge; for example the
challenges of painting a particular material like
glass or paper. I like to set myself challenges.
It could be the subject matter, but it is usually
a favourite for me because there is something
very technical that I have managed to
overcome. Sometimes the most complicated
eye or mouth or body part can be painted
relatively quickly and not be too challenging,
but it is the thing behind the figure, that may
even be quite flat, that is the challenge; that is
the difficult thing to achieve.
Are there any particular challenges that
you are proud of having overcome?
I think my relationship with water and being
able to paint water in lots of different ways; I’ve
painted it and been interested in it since I was

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in my early 20s when I taught myself to swim.
I’ve painted moving and still water; I’ve painted
people in baths and painted glass bowls of
water; I’ve painted people lying in the sea,
clothed and naked. I’m about to embark on a
collection of paintings of people having water
thrown across them so the water travels across
the whole surface. I’m really excited about this
next collection because it is capturing water in
motion.
Why is water such a recurring theme
for you?
I think water symbolizes life and our relationship
with the world. Without water we would die
and yet water can be such a devastating and
dangerous power. When we are a foetus, we
are in water and I think that is significant. I see
it as a metaphor in the way that Christianity
sees it, for the way we use water to cleanse
the body. I’ve used the story of N