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Overview
"I paint familiar objects-crockery on a dresser shelf, fresh fish on patterned linens-not as passive still lifes, but as celebrations of home and the private theatre of the everyday" - Ollie Tuck.
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.
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Works for sale
Ollie Tuck
Lobster, Lemons and FeverfewOil on Gesso Primed Board51 x 40.5 cms / 20 x 16 inchesSigned 'OT' (lower right)Description
Summer lunch at the kitchen table. A cooked lobster, scarlet against a blue-rimmed plate, sits at the centre of a sunlit table beside two lemons, with a red-and-white gingham cloth folded across the lower right. Two jugs of white daisies stand behind, one plain and one patterned, while the window beyond opens onto green foliage, flooding the scene with daylight that bounces across the white tabletop. For Ollie, the painting began with a very particular idea of summer. “An unapologetically summery still life, inspired by Hamptons and Nantucket crab-boil feasts and summer BBQs; that outdoor, gingham kind of gathering, but reimagined here as a still life.” That sense of conviviality remains even in the absence of people; the table feels newly laid, as though everyone has only just stepped away.
Gladwell & Patterson are delighted to present their first solo exhibition with Ollie, Small Pleasures. Bringing together paintings made across the past twelve months, the collection moves from pocket-sized works to abundant still lifes, cosy interiors and observations of the natural world. What connects them is Ollie’s habit of looking closely at everyday life, and the pleasure she takes in the ordinary things around her.
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