Oli Epp
Posted by Fabio 12 October 2017
My paintings are informed by my observations of living within contemporary consumer culture. The paintings are autobiographical; confessional, irreverent and frequently handled with a humorous pathos. I draw from public and private moments that pass by as unnoticed or unremarkable and from these I point out the absurdity of certain shared rituals and behaviours – a desperate state of affairs in which we are defined by our consumer choices. I create simplified humanoid characters, which lend a sort of parody of the real world in the way that cartoons do. These ‘avatars’ have oversized heads and are hermetically sealed by an absence of facial features. They appear idiotically isolated, but adorned with earpieces, brands and ‘things that trend’. My use of the visual language of advertising and the interplay between graphic and painterly surfaces aims to create optical confusion, echoing the way that our real and digital lives are merged._Oli Epp
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