An Art on a Postcard Mini Auction in Collaboration With The Bomb Factory
12 MAY 2022 - 26 MAY 2022Notes
About
Oli Epp’s paintings circulate a number of themes to do with the tragicomic element of living in the 21st century society, dealing with the complexity of identity and anxieties living in the digital age; consumerism and consumption which leads to control and addiction, anxiety and conflict. The paintings work in an endlessly cyclical way of Epp ironically questioning idealisms and our pursuit of perfection and the conflict that arises as a result.
The work is centred around the body and its relationship with the world and others, its shape accentuated; large heads, exaggerated limbs, flattened, almost cartoon-like. But don’t be mistaken, what Epp does with these avatar-esque almost naïve, narcissistic and sometimes sexualised figures in his paintings is convey an externalisation of internal conflicts or states. Underneath the bright pop aesthetic often lies a darker more sobering narrative.
The overall aesthetic of Epp’s paintings conveys the digital world; mimicking the screen, toying with the physicality of surface. The flatness and luminosity of his work reflects our complex relationship with technology; how we use it as extensions of oneself or as a pretence of one’s personality, as a façade.
Education
2014-17 BA (Hons) Fine Art, City & Guilds of London Art School (First Class)
2013-14 Foundation Diploma, City & Guilds of London Art School
Select Exhibitions/Awards
Solo Exhibitions and Two Person Shows
June 2022 (Forthcoming) Solo show at Perrotin Gallery, New York, United States
November 2021 (Forthcoming) Solo show at Richard Heller Gallery, LA, United States
August 2021 ‘Stockholm Syndome’ with Ry David Bradley, Carl Kostyál Gallery at Hospitalet, Stockholm
March 2021 ‘Souvenir’ with Wanda Koop, Division Gallery, Montreal, Canada
Sept 2020 ‘Black Swan’ at Semiose Gallery, Paris, France
Dec 2019 ‘Oxymoron’ at Carl Kostyál Gallery, London, UK
Sept 2019 Two person show, ‘Karma’ with Roxanne Jackson, DUVE Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Mar 2019 ‘Contactless’ at Richard Heller Gallery, LA, United States
May 2018 'Epiphanies' at Semiose Galerie, Paris, France
Selected Group Exhibitions / Fairs
May 2021 ‘Stockholm Sessions"‘, Carl Kostyál Gallery/Hospitalet, Stockholm
Jan 2021 ‘Friend Zone’, curated by Vaughn Spann, Half Gallery, New York, USA
Dec 2020 ‘Untitled Art Fair’, Richard Heller Gallery, Miami, USA
Apr 2020 Online ‘Dallas Art Fair’, Carl Kostyál Gallery, Dallas, USA
Nov 2019 ‘Adieu to Old England, The Kids Are Alright’, Choi and Lager, Cologne, Germany
Nov 2019 ‘ART021’, Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, Carl Kostyál, Shanghai, China
May 2019 ‘Malmo Sessions’, with Carl Kostyal, organized with Erika Hellman and Svenska Hus AB, Malmö, Sweden
Nov 2018 ‘Untitled’ Art Fair, Booth A41, Richard Heller Gallery, Miami Beach, US
Nov 2018 Artissima Fair, Semiose Galerie, Torino, Italy
Sept 2018 ‘Out of Place’, Zsuzsi Roboz Scholarship Show Morley Gallery, London, UK
June 2018 ‘Exceptional’, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London, UK
April 2018 ‘Art Brussels’, Semiose Galerie, Brussels, Belgium
Jan 2018 ‘Emerging Artists 2018’, 45 Park Lane, London, UK
Jan 2018 ‘Contemporary Visions 8’, Beers Contemporary, London, UK
Jan 2018 ‘Distilled De Stijl’, TW Fine Art, Brisbane, Australia
Dec 2017 Galeristes Art Fair, Semiose Galerie, Paris, France
Nov 2017 Griffin Art Prize 2017, curated by Becca Pelly-Fry, Griffin Gallery, London, UK
Oct 2017 The window was open though the door was shut with the window left open, curated by Lily Brooke & Elaine Tam, 3 Ada Road, London, UK
Sep 2017 We Are The Ones, curated by Galina Munroe, Jordy Kerwick & Simon Ganshorn, Carlsberg Byens Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark
Jun 2017 City & Guilds of London Art School Degree Show, London, UK
May 2017 Ruth Borchard Self-portrait Prize 2017, London, UK
Jun 2016 1st & 2nd Year Interim Show, Diorama Studios, London, UK
Jun 2015 Liminal, Interim Show, Ragged School Museum, London, UK
Awards / Scholarships/ Prizes/ Residencies
2018 Jealous Art Prize
2017 Espositivo Residency in Madrid, Spain
2017 Shortlisted for the Griffin Art Prize
2017 Zsuzsi Roboz Scholarship
2017 The Art School Board of Trustees Prize for an Outstanding Piece of Work in the Graduate Show
2017 (Commended) Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize 2017
2016 Idun Ravndal Travel Prize
2016 The Painter-Stainers Scholarship Prize
2016 Philip Connard Travel Award (The Worshipful Company of Skinners)
2015 The Painter-Stainers Scholarship Prize
2014 Prize for Outstanding Work at Foundation Show
Please do not bid on artwork in our Art on a Postcard auctions if you intend on selling the artwork after you have purchased it. This auction has been organised for charity and all artworks have been generously donated by the artists to raise money for the Hepatitis C Trust. When the work produced for the charity is sold on the secondary market it damages our relationship with the artist and prevents us from fundraising.