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Richard J. Oliver

Richard J Oliver 
Born in Pontypridd, Wales in 1975. Holds an honorary degree in Fine Art from the University Of West of England and undertaking a Masters in Fine Art UWIC Wales.

Currently Paints and resides in Los Angeles CA.

Solo exhibitions include the Known Gallery, Hollywood, Los Angeles. Museum of Modern Art, Wales. Attic Gallery, Swansea and Rhondda Heritage park permanent Mural. Mixed Exhibitions Worldwide including London, New York and most recently Los Angeles......

Full Biography
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RJO quick demostration

Richard J Oliver 
Born in Pontypridd, Wales in 1975. Holds an honorary degree in Fine Art from the University Of West of England and undertaking a Masters in Fine Art UWIC Wales.

Currently Paints and resides in Los Angeles CA.

Solo exhibitions include the Known Gallery, Hollywood, Los Angeles. Museum of Modern Art, Wales. Attic Gallery, Swansea and Rhondda Heritage park permanent Mural.

Mixed Exhibitions Worldwide including London, New York and most recently Los Angeles.

Paintings currently hang in Museums and public display throughout the UK and private clients are worldwide.

Richard J Oliver was born and raised in Wales, United Kingdom, studied Fine Art at the University of the West of England and undertook his Masters at UWIC in Wales. In his time between studies, Oliver built his reputation, beginning in Wales and later gaining recognition throughout the UK. His work has been included in numerous European group shows, which then segued into solo shows, including an exhibition at the prestigious Museum of Modern Art in Wales.

Oliver's early work focused on his homeland, particularly the struggle of its youth trying to find identity in the aftermath of the local mining industry's demise. His work often showcased the skeleton landscapes of mining villages in the Welsh valleys juxtaposed with contemporary youth.

His latest works explore more universal subjects, from environmental issues to humanitarian and social problems that are close to his heart.

Since becoming a parent, Oliver has explored the anxieties of raising a child in an environment on the brink of disaster. The images touch on the tragedy of children forced to survive in an apocalyptic environment and violently fend for themselves. He transforms the natural instincts of fatherhood and family protection into striking visuals. More recently, portraits have crossed into the dark, brooding world of Grimm's fairytales and surrealistic subjects that help convey the emotion and tragedy of our world's children. Oliver works closely with many charities, most recently donating proceeds to Dreamlovecure.org and City of Hope's Department of Paediatrics.

Statement:

"My Work:

My early work was a response to the difficulty of self identification in a post industrial Wales. It reflected the problem of self value and worth in a new non self sufficient country where every corner and horizon echoed the past yet every TV and computer pointed forward. The youth of my generation were born into the void left over in a post industrial country and patriotic pride was hard to come by. My paintings were born out of the rebellion against complacency and apathy that was inbred being brought up in a very grey poor town.
My art has been and continues to be a report on culture and society and shows the more honest side of these crutches that our humanity relies on. I believe therefore my work has more in common with the folk songwriters and is born of a very old tradition of story telling and prose from Celtic mythology such as the Mabinogion. Some comparisons of my works have been with Irish folk songs and the political and social commentary of artists like Bob Dylan.

My current work isn't as locally subjective as it once was. I believed at one time that I could only paint about what I knew and was intimate with, which was Wales and its people. Having spent the better part of this decade travelling the world I believe now that I am qualified to speak of broader issues and paint things I have experienced, maybe not in the same way as the locals to these areas have experienced but through the eyes of a visitor and yet maintain legitimacy in my expression. The works I have completed while living in California have been quite different to my Welsh Paintings. Mainly in the way the characters relate to their surroundings. In my Welsh paintings the figures and the backgrounds are treated the same and almost meld into one another, as is the case in reality where the generations still live in the same village for centuries. In my recent works in Los Angeles the opposite is true. The figures are detached from their environment both aesthetically and physically because of the nature of the city where the majority of the population come from other places. The Los Angeles have have experienced is a cultural smorgasbord set in eclectic urban architecture.

Since the birth of my sons I have also explored ideas in my work that touch upon the anxieties of raising a child in an environment that I believe is on the brink of disaster due to the greed and ignorant over consumption of the planets resources, by us, it's exploding populace of dependents. The images touch on the tragedy of children forced to survive in an apocalyptic environment and violently fend for themselves, an idea the tears at the heart of the natural instincts of fatherhood and the impotence of family protection. More recently these portraits have crossed over into the dark brooding world of Grimm's fairytales and mythical surrealistic subjects that help carry and convey the emotion and tragedy of the children I paint."

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Artwork Collections

Illustiration Art Collection

Like Norman Rockwell, Seuss personally created every rough sketch, preliminary drawing, final line drawing and finished work for each page of every project he illustrated. Despite the technical and budgetary limitations of color printing during the early and mid-twentieth century, Dr. Seuss the artist was meticulous about color selection. He created specially numbered color charts and elaborate color call-outs to precisely accomplish his vision for each book. Saturated reds and blues, for example, were carefully chosen for The Cat in the Hat to attract and maintain the visual attention of a six-year-old audience. By the time Seuss’s book career took off, sharp draftsman skills were evident in drawings. His ability to move a storyline ahead via illustrations filled with tension, movement and color became a hallmark component of his work, and the surreal images that unfolded over six decades became the catalyst for a humorous and inspired learning experience.

Bronze Collection

Artist Leo Rijn, the inaugural sculptor for the Dr. Seuss Tribute Collection I, was selected to launch this project due to his prized work with some of today’s top talent in the world of film, entertainment and the visual arts (including Tim Burton, Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg). Rijn has been identified as one of today’s brightest sculpting talents because of his ability to breathe life into the written word and successfully transform two-dimensional ideas into three-dimensional works of art. Universal Studios commissioned Leo to develop and oversee the creation of numerous maquette scale models for the Monumental Dr. Seuss Sculptures at Seuss Landing in Orlando, Florida. Leo was instrumental in the art direction for many of the sculpted characters and buildings now on display at this permanent Seuss attraction. His strikingly accurate Seuss works embody a masterful and intuitive Seussian sensibility, establishing him as a leading talent in interpretive sculpting.

Taxidermy Colletion

Seuss embarked on an ingenious project in the early 1930s as he evolved from two-dimensional artworks to three-dimensional sculptures. What was most unusual for these mixed-media sculptures was the use of real animal parts including beaks, antlers and horns from deceased Forest Park Zoo animals where Seuss’s father was superintendent. Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy was born in a cramped New York apartment and included a menagerie of inventive creatures with names like the “Two Horned Drouberhannis,” “Andulovian Grackler,” and “Semi-Normal Green-Lidded Fawn.” Shortly after Seuss created this unique collection of artworks, Look Magazine dubbed Seuss “The World’s Most Eminent Authority on Unheard-Of Animals.” To this day, Seuss’s Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy remains as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multi-dimensional creativity.

 

Secret Art & Archives

Illustrator by day, surrealist by night, Seuss created a body of irrepressible work that redefines this American icon as an iconographic American artist. Yet, the Secret Art often shows a side of the artist that most readers, familiar with him through his classic children’s books, have never seen. This collection, created over a period of more than 60 years, encompasses the entirety of Seuss’s multi-dimensional talent. The artistic golden thread highlighted throughout this collection is apparent in each wildly imaginative and surreal Secret Art image. The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss is an inimitable collection of artworks created at night for his own personal enjoyment. These works were rarely, if ever, exhibited during his lifetime and provide a deeper glimpse into the art and life of this celebrated American Icon.

http://www.authorizedgallery.com/secret-art-archive-works
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Luchaes
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Disney
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Lorenzo Ghiglieri
Laran Ghiglieri
Print on wood
Wall Art
Sculpture
Mixed Media
Metal
Table
Giclee
Bronze Sculpture
Originals
A Vision On The Retina of Water And Me
A Study for: By Providing Protection, He Found Grace
A Sword is Useless in the Hands of a Coward
Afternoon Light Provence
All is Revealed
Boice Thrakon
Both Tyger and Lamb
Bunker at Wissant
By Providing Protection, He Found Grace
Descente
Dragon Girl
Drink Me
Epicerie, Goult
Farewell
Fountaine de Vaucluse, Provence
Freedom is a Strong Seed Planted in Great Need
Gaia
Galleon
God Will Not Have His Work Manifest by Cowards
Golden Afternoon
Gretel, God Will Not Forsake Us
Hell hath no Fury
Holding Onto Innocence
I Opened My Chest and Showed Her My Scars
I Want Your Sun to Reach My Rain
I Was Always Free
In Hope
In Reverence of the Wild
In Surrender
It Ends to Begin Again
James and The Giant Peach
Kalyna
Leo Carillo Seascape
Light of the Sacred Wood
Nanuk, Banished to Perish
Nature's Way
Ocean Melody
Our Tethered Soul
Pop Renaissance Portrait
Pyrrha Thrakena
Revenge Rises from the Ashes of Injustice
Rose Princess and the Gold Bird
Rose of the Wind
Silent Carousel
Snow White - The Reprieve
Snow White and the Poisoned Lace Stays
Speak Only The Truth
Static Balance
Survival on a Knife's Edge
The Summoning
The Bird Song of Hope
The Bluebird Song
The Elephant and the Mouse
The Escape
The Journey Begins
The Seven Ravens
Truly, to be Myself
Vision is the Art of Seeing What is Invisible to Others
What You Seek is Seeking You
Wissant Beach
You Only Lose What You Cling to
Young Goddess Artemis