Ollie Tuck British, Contemporary

Olivia (Ollie) Tuck is a Sussex-based still life painter whose work has been exhibited with the Royal Society of Marine Artists, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Society of Women Artists. Her paintings respond to the colour and light she finds in everyday subjects, combining traditional still life themes with a contemporary use of pattern in highly decorative, joyful compositions. Rooted in domestic life, her work treats familiar objects, crockery on a dresser shelf, fresh fish laid on patterned linen, as celebrations of home and the small rituals of the everyday. Her achievements have been recognised with a series of awards, including second place for the Stanley Grimm Memorial Award at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 2022, the RSMA Next Generation Award and the Holly Bush Painter Prize for Best Figurative Painting in 2021. Olivia's journey as a painter began with portraits of friends and family, and took a decisive turn at around seventeen when she started visiting exhibitions. Largely self-taught, she developed her skills through sustained practice and observation, and colour quickly emerged as the defining feature of her work, as it remains today. Her move into still life, and food subjects in particular, came during the lockdowns, when regular trips to local farm shops and fishmongers supplied both her subjects and, frequently, the ingredients for that evening's meal. She discovered that a mackerel on a patterned cloth or a bowl of ripening tomatoes could hold as much visual interest as any grander subject. Working primarily in oils, Olivia values the medium's versatility and the range of surfaces and effects it makes possible. Her aim is to create paintings that draw the viewer in to study the brushwork at close range before stepping back to take in the whole. She finds great satisfaction in the continuous learning her practice demands, and in the moments of breakthrough that move her work forward.