(Frankrig/Slovenien – f. 1986)
OLIVER PAVIC BIO
Oliver Pavic is a self-taught artist with an architectural background. Born in 1986 in Slovenia (former Yugoslavia), he grew up idolizing free Western world.
Events such as the fall of Berlin wall and the Balkan War of the 90’s gave Oliver new possibilities in achieving freedom of expression.
He started his architectural journey in the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana but graduated and became an architect in London.
In 2008 he visited Francis Bacon’s retrospective at Tate Britain which had a profound effect on his life. The need to self-express artistically led him to France, where in 2015 he set up his studio in the champagne region and embarked on a journey as an artist painter.
Oliver takes possession of art history as his creative birth right, distorting classical images and bringing them into tension with contemporary experience.
Past and present ebb and flow on his canvases, taking arts historical images and inserting them into contemporary narratives.
The image is thus squeezed between contemporary realities represented by fields of disfiguration and found interpretations.
The resulting totality challenges our perception of time, history and memory where “then” and “now” are locked into a relationship we ourselves, as viewers, must balance.
OLIVER PAVIC ARTIST STATEMENT
I’m fascinated by the dialogue between old and new. It has been a constant in my work since the Covid pandemic. I create through techniques of figural deconstruction and recomposition.
I reclaim subjects and distress, disfigure and strip away their surface. Through a constant dialogue with materials, I dismantle and re-interpret forms in order to create anew.
The visceral accidentality in my works becomes a conductor for reflections, allowing the viewer to experience its own narrative and form its own interpretation.
My body of work since the Covid pandemic is inspired by 18th Century “Grand Style” portraits, idolization of Francis Bacon and current social issues and trends.
While in lockdown I started to chronicle my state of mind. The process itself became therapeutic. The deeper I got into the isolation the more intense the paintings became. I would deconstruct my own figure and reconstruct it with gestural marks influenced by my then current state of mind.
Topics that I was addressing were anxiety, depression, vanity, euphoria and all kinds of addictions. These led to current topics such as being a foreigner, capitalism, social media, conformism, ecology and acceptance to name just a few.
I paint in the hope that my work isn’t generically indifferent and that it evokes strong meaningful reactions.
To quote myself: “I’d rather you hate my painting than casually walk past it”.
"Reflection 10"
Oliver Pavic
"Reflection 10"
Oil on wood
76 x 96 cm
DKK 38.000,-
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"Reflection 11"
Oliver Pavic
"Reflection 11"
Oil on wood
90 x 120 cm
DKK 42.000,-
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"Reflection 12"
Oliver Pavic
"Reflection 12"
Oil on wood
81 x 113 cm
DKK 40.000,-
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"Reflection 13"
Oliver Pavic
"Reflection 13"
Oil on wood
82 x 112 cm
DKK 40.000,-
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"Reflection 14"
Oliver Pavic
"Reflection 14"
Oil on wood
80 x 100 cm
DKK 38.000,-
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"Reflection 16"
Oliver Pavic
"Reflection 16"
Oil on wood
75 x 85 cm
DKK 32.000,-
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"Reflection 18"
Oliver Pavic
"Reflection 18"
Oil on wood
110 x 137 cm
DKK 45.000,-
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"Reflection 19"
Oliver Pavic
"Reflection 19"
Oil on wood
62 x 72 cm
DKK 28.000,-
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"Reflection 20"
Oliver Pavic
"Reflection 20"
Olie på plade
54 x 66 cm inkl. guldramme
DKK 22.000,-
Kontakt for yderligere info samt besigtigelse
"Reflection 21"
Oliver Pavic
"Reflection 21"
Oil on wood
52 x 70 cm
DKK 22.000,-
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"Reflection 22"
Oliver Pavic
"Reflection 22"
Oil on wood
44 x 58 cm
DKK 20.000,-
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"Reflection 24"
Oliver Pavic
"Reflection 24"
Oil on wood
45 x 55 cm
DKK 20.000,-
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CAI Artist Spotlight
Biography
Born in 1984 in a post-communist repressed Yugoslavia, Oliver Pavic is a self-taught artist
coming from an architectural background, working and residing in Picardy, France. Pavic aims to create deconstructed and recomposed figures. He reclaims subjects and distress, disfigure, and strip away their surface, engaging in a constant dialogue with his materials,
reinterpreting existing forms in order to create new ones.
Pavic grew up idolizing the free Western life. The fall of the Berlin Wall opened new possibilities, especially when it comes to achieving freedom of expression. As a result, at the first opportunity, the contemporary artist left his home-country for London where he became
an architect. In 2008, Pavic visited Francis Bacon’s retrospective at Tate Britain, a life changing event which had a very profound impact on the artist. Today, one notices Francis Bacon’s influence in his works strongly, but he is also inspired by the likes of Nicola Samorì or Adrian Ghenie. As a contemporary painter, Oliver Pavic is interested in how textures relay the emotions, and how the application or manipulation of texture expresses the narrative. He paints with open interpretations, allowing the viewer to discover their own reflection, both physically and
mentally. Recurring themes are deconstruction, displacement, classical compositions and the idealization of the imperfect.
This body of work emerged at the start of the Covid pandemic. With his latest series of works titled Solace, the artist departs from classical compositions, using contemporary and deconstructive techniques. His painterly practice is both deliberately ambiguous and anonymous.
The idea or concept starts from a simple emotion, which is reflected in an existing work of art, a person, or an event. Pavic starts to manipulate his images by manner of producing a series of digital sketches and collages, in search for an ideal composition. Painting with oil on panel, the artist does not only use a paintbrush, but also palette knives, sponges, or whatever he sees fit for the application of paint.
Working in many layers across several weeks of work, the artist continues to reflect during the creative process, examining the object in different moods, lighting, or at different times.
Once the painting expresses itself, Oliver Pavic signs is, and it departs for its own journey.