Olivia Plender

Okay. So getting into the next unit.
Learning agreement is stressful on top of extremely mixed messages about my work.
This is an artist that Jason gave me to look at. Within the theme of 'communal living'.
On this list also, is Mai-Thu Perret (who i will write about)
and Ann Lowe who i can find nothing about on the net. again, one to consult the library about.

I spoke to Jason about my work and presented my crazy idea for the event/festival i would like to hold in the summer. -hence the 'communal living' bit.

And I'm still mixed up about whether i (want) to carry on the work that began to evolve at the end of the last unit as i got a really low grade.

BUT I'm mainly stuck on how these things go together..







Olivia Plender
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Olivia Plender (born 1977) is an artist based in London.

Plender was born in London. Her work is based on drawing and references pulp novels, magazines and comic strips.[1] She is best known for a project entitled The Masterpiece (2002 onwards), an epic hand-drawn comic book about the life of a fictional artist in 1960s London.[2]

Plender was co-editor of Untitled Magazine from 2002 until it closed in 2008.[3]

She studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design between 1995 and 1998.


Thanks Wiki.

But really, I can't find much about her. I think i need to get to the library.


Saatchi Gallery Says:

Inspired by the works of Övyind Fahlström, Olivia Plender uses the format of the comic book as an alternative mode of distribution for art, capitalising on its inexpensive accessibility as a means to challenge cultural ideals. This exhibition of templates from her ongoing The Masterpiece series is an expansive critique of originality; the drawings themselves are conceived as a by-product of artistic process, and not the actual art itself.

Appropriating her title from Emile Zola’s novel about Cezanne, Plender’s The Masterpiece 4 explores the concept of Romanticism, authoring a complex fiction examining the concept of artist-as-genius. Set in 1960’s London her protagonist is an archetypical painter, tortured by his creativity, exploited by a cruel world. Invited for a weekend in the country, the plot unfolds as a Byronic epic cum Hammerhouse horror, delving her champion into a world of psychedelia and occult as a metaphoric parody of artistic strife.

Drawing her references from a wide range of sources, from 19th century technical manuals to b-movie film stills, Plender’s graphic narratives are designed with the stylised glamour of pulp fiction covers; her disconnected images intertwine as surreal pastiche, adding a psychological complexity to her illustrated story. Rendered in pencil on paper, these original drawings provide a rare insight into the concentrated intimacy of Plender’s process, reflecting an obsessive passion worthy of her heroes.