Selected Biography
Oliver’s creative practise is an exploration and celebration of living forms and movements.
His work fuses the worlds of art and theatre.
Oliver explores dynamic sculptural bodies as a language capable of expressing and healing.
He was recently commissioned to create two mechanical snakes for the 2024 Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre production of Antony and Cleopatra.
Three large kinetic sculptures, Bow Down and Very Low - 123, which he developed with Turner Prize Shortlisted artist Ingrid Pollard are evocative of acts of domination and submission tied to an imperial, colonial past. In 2022 these were presented at MK Gallery, Turner Contemporary and Tate Liverpool.
Oliver’s works are intended to be enjoyed by a wide range of different people and not merely those with a dedicated interest in Art.
The nature-inspired moving kinetic sculpture 5 6 7 - Blue, for which Oliver received the Royal Academy Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture in 2022 often elicited squeals of delight from viewers as it twirled and rotated in response to the environment at the RA Summer Exhibition where it shared the Large Weston Room with art and architecture.
Oliver is currently a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Creative and Cultural Industries at Kingston University and he shares his knowledge and experience of devising, producing and performing puppetry with students at some of London’s most respected performing arts schools, such as Royal Central School of Speech and Drama,Kingston School of Art, Mountview and Rose Bruford.
His original internationally touring solo puppet performance, Suitcase Circus has captivated audiences for almost three decades within every kind of venue with its blend of the surreal, the absurd and the hilarious.
Through his work in theatre Oliver explores communicating through rhythm and gesture.
His interest in a broad sense of language has led to Oliver’s involvement as a workshop leader to people with a wide range of physical and cognitive abilities in participant lead organisations such as Heart n Soul and Entelechy Arts
In 2023 Oliver began to create large site responsive dynamic sculptures with Northumbrian artist Lucy May Schofield. The first of these Islay Land was a commission for the Port Ellen Whiskey Distillery and the most recent Cazimi is being presented within a group show at the Hub, Sleaford. Both of these art works use materials, form and movement to communicate ideas around community, place and belonging.
The collaboration with artist Dominic Harris (founding director of the design studio Cinimod) resulted in the exquisite responsive mechanical butterfly, Puppet Flutter/Fight is a Waltz which was presented alongside prototypes at Design Basel/Miami in 2017. Dominic is the founding director of the cutting edge design studio Cinimod, and this project was created through the collaboration within a large and highly skilled team
A form and movement study of the Imperial Dragonfly was presented in the solo exhibition, Imago - A Dragonfly in Motion at Circus Gallery, Marylebone and was part of the 2019 London Design Festival, with an associated panel discussion with Dr Katy Barret of the Science Museum and Dr Huai-Ti Lin of Imperial College on the panel.
His work fuses the worlds of art and theatre.
Oliver explores dynamic sculptural bodies as a language capable of expressing and healing.
He was recently commissioned to create two mechanical snakes for the 2024 Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre production of Antony and Cleopatra.
Three large kinetic sculptures, Bow Down and Very Low - 123, which he developed with Turner Prize Shortlisted artist Ingrid Pollard are evocative of acts of domination and submission tied to an imperial, colonial past. In 2022 these were presented at MK Gallery, Turner Contemporary and Tate Liverpool.
Oliver’s works are intended to be enjoyed by a wide range of different people and not merely those with a dedicated interest in Art.
The nature-inspired moving kinetic sculpture 5 6 7 - Blue, for which Oliver received the Royal Academy Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture in 2022 often elicited squeals of delight from viewers as it twirled and rotated in response to the environment at the RA Summer Exhibition where it shared the Large Weston Room with art and architecture.
Oliver is currently a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Creative and Cultural Industries at Kingston University and he shares his knowledge and experience of devising, producing and performing puppetry with students at some of London’s most respected performing arts schools, such as Royal Central School of Speech and Drama,Kingston School of Art, Mountview and Rose Bruford.
His original internationally touring solo puppet performance, Suitcase Circus has captivated audiences for almost three decades within every kind of venue with its blend of the surreal, the absurd and the hilarious.
Through his work in theatre Oliver explores communicating through rhythm and gesture.
His interest in a broad sense of language has led to Oliver’s involvement as a workshop leader to people with a wide range of physical and cognitive abilities in participant lead organisations such as Heart n Soul and Entelechy Arts
In 2023 Oliver began to create large site responsive dynamic sculptures with Northumbrian artist Lucy May Schofield. The first of these Islay Land was a commission for the Port Ellen Whiskey Distillery and the most recent Cazimi is being presented within a group show at the Hub, Sleaford. Both of these art works use materials, form and movement to communicate ideas around community, place and belonging.
The collaboration with artist Dominic Harris (founding director of the design studio Cinimod) resulted in the exquisite responsive mechanical butterfly, Puppet Flutter/Fight is a Waltz which was presented alongside prototypes at Design Basel/Miami in 2017. Dominic is the founding director of the cutting edge design studio Cinimod, and this project was created through the collaboration within a large and highly skilled team
A form and movement study of the Imperial Dragonfly was presented in the solo exhibition, Imago - A Dragonfly in Motion at Circus Gallery, Marylebone and was part of the 2019 London Design Festival, with an associated panel discussion with Dr Katy Barret of the Science Museum and Dr Huai-Ti Lin of Imperial College on the panel.