OLLY FATHERS

Works
Biography
Photo credit: Justyna Kulam
Photo credit: Justyna Kulam
Olly Fathers is interested in the relationship between shape, material, and form. At first impression, his wood assemblages present themselves as whimsical, abstract compositions that encourage the viewer to look deeper. Upon second look, however, the work's skillful interplay of craftsmanship, artistry, and technical prowess reveal themselves. The works are imbued with quiet, almost reverential ideas evoked through the ideas of balance and precision inherent. With a strict eye for detail, Fathers takes great satisfaction in the process of making itself - recalling the Alan Watts saying "Zen wisdom is not to think about Buddha while peeling potatoes, Zen wisdom is just to peel the potatoes."
 
This idea of process being so integral to the making, meaning, and outcome, Fathers plays on our expectations of his material: namely, wood, to explore and proximate the limits of his medium. Laden with history as much as it lends to manipulation, Fathers is able to keep strict parameters for himself with respect to technique and concept while, in fact, exploring a paradoxically wide spectrum of different woods and the various properties and possibilities therein. Woods include oak, walnut, sycamore, tulip, and birch.
 
Taking inspiration from geometric abstraction, architecture, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and even retro-futurism, but guided with a mid-century modernist or Scandinavian timelessness, the pieces use intricately hand-cut wood veneers brought together using the widest breadth of both learned and self-taught marquetry techniques. These works explore the visual language between simple forms and materials, working shapes into classic, seemingly-effortless compositions that prioritize harmony, tranquility, and equilibrium with a striking, unforgettable presence and contemporary sensibility.

 


OLLY FATHERS (b. 1987, Burton-upon-Trent, UK) currently lives and works in Brixton, South London. He graduated in 2010 with a BA in Fine Art (Painting) from Wimbledon College of Art.

 

Solo exhibitions include: Saved for Later, Blue Shop Gallery, London (2024); Offcuts, Morgan Furniture, Clerkenwell Design Week, London (2022); Form Block Form, Bearspace Gallery, London (2020).

 

Group exhibitions include: Tangram, JGM Gallery, London (2024); Artist’s Artist, OHSH Projects, London (2023); Studio Response 03, Saatchi Gallery, London (2022); Haven, Aylmer Hall, Steingold Contemporary, London (2022); Jealous Needs You, Jealous Gallery & Saatchi Gallery, London (2018); Micromegas, Saatchi Gallery, London (2018); 7 Ecstatic Rays, Saatchi Gallery, London (2017).

 

Installations include: Crown Point Roadside Gallery, Leeds (2022); Happy Together, UI Artline Installation, Seoul, South Korea (2021); Harder Edge, Hospital Club & Saatchi Gallery, London (2019).


Collections include: BOSS, Regents Street, Liverpool, and Shanghai (2022-24); KOKO Members Club, London (2022); Soho House (2018-20) with purchases of various works for premises in London, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, and Mumbai; London School of Economics (2019); Merkle Digital Marketing (2018).


Competitions include: Concorde Art Prize, Finalist, 180 Strand, London (2021).