Olivia Bax
In and outs (2019)
Olivia Bax’s sculptures seem to translate lines into solid objects, but vice versa applies as well. They take up space, while seeming to elude space itself, as if there is a possibility for them to turn into a two-dimensional shape at any time. The balance between the filling and the void, in her case, is more than a take on the sleek gestalt compositions from the modernist era: her works are made with a rough finishing reminiscent of household objects, regular use and crude surfaces from daily life. In their form, they almost seem utilitarian. For example, In and outs could have potentially been seen as a vase, whereas some other of her sculptures are slightly suggestive of cutlery, coathangers, bottles, etc. The play between impossible utility and the volume that seems to evolve and collapse at the same time evokes an unpredictable dynamic within a static object.
photography: courtesy of Ribot gallery
Olivia Bax Biography
Olivia Bax (Singapore, 1988, lives and works in London). She studied at Byam Shaw School of Art, London (2010) and Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, (2016). Her works have been shown in solo and group shows at: New Art Centre, Salisbury, 2024; Boo Lee and Workman, Bruton, 2024-2022; Cross Lane Projects, Kendal, 2024; The Lightbox, Surrey, 2024-2023; Royal Western Academy, Bristol, 2024; Cittadella degli Archivi di Milano, Milan, 2024; Holtermann Fine Art, London, 2024-2022; HATCH, Paris, 2023; Standpoint Gallery, London, 2023-2020; White Conduit Projects, London, 2023; Platform for Contemporary Sculpture, Tilburg, 2023; Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, Norwich, 2023; Saatchi Gallery, London, 2022-2018-2015; HS Projects, London 2021; Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Penzance, 2021-2020; RIBOT gallery, Milan, 2019; Lily Brooke Gallery, London, 2018; Christian Larsen Gallery, Stockholm, 2017; Academy of Visual Arts, HKBU, Hong Kong, 2017; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2016. Prizes include: Mark Tanner Sculpture Award, London, 2019; Kenneth Armitage Young Sculptor Prize, London, 2016. Her works today are part of private and public collections such as: Art Council Collection, The Ingram Collection, Tremenheere Sculpture Garden, UCL Special Collections.