Friday, February 27, 2009

Olivia Jeffries


Another one of the talented artists participating in the "Prints are People Too!" show is Olivia Jeffries, who is based out of Norwich (UK). Olivia graduated in 2000 with a BA in (appropriately) printmaking and photomedia from Norwich School of Art and Design. As is so appartent in her work, Olivia notes that her creative process is highly influenced by her fascination with used paper. She loves the feeling of working on a surface that has already been given a sense of purpose in a previous incarnation and has become worn over time. As a love of all things vintage and old, I can heavily relate to that feeling, and suspect this is one of the reason I was initially drawn to her work.


Although the works we will be enjoying in the show next weekend are prints, the originals are made using old letter, books or packaging materials. By making art out of them they are detached from their original roles and combined with Olivias ghostly figures, drawn from old photographs and stripped of their surroundings.

Gentle yet eery, thoughtful yet naive, Olivias work appeals to us in a very understated way that makes you feel slightly uncomfortable, while you catch yourself sneaking another peek. We think it may be the voyeuristic feeling created through the use of the photographic inspiration, but whatever it is, we like it!


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Love the dress drawings - ethereal and beautiful.