Olivia Bryant
Olivia Bryant is a London-based interdisciplinary artist, her work spanning sculpture, drawing, and painting. Her practice investigates the fragile myths, boundaries and transgressions that exist in modern industry. Using the rural and coastal as a framework, her work engages with outward-reaching histories: industrial mass farming, the enclosure of common land, and hauntological landscapes.
Bryant’s materially dexterous sculptural practice often uses 3D print technology, with both her sculptures and hand-drawn works on canvas made from biodegradable plastics. Sourced from recycling industries, these naturally pigmented bioplastics are made from oyster shells, scallop shells, mussel shells, beer, coffee, wood, and wheat. Organic materials are a cornerstone of her practice – research into the expansion of Sizewell B Nuclear power station in Suffolk led to a series of works cast in sea kelp, a naturally occurring source of iodine not dissimilar to the potassium iodide (KI) issued to Sizewell villagers in case of a radiation emergency.
Her more recent sculptural works are cast in salt, working with livestock and utilising the aesthetics of an English pleasure garden to consider the boundary between pastoral and ornamental landscapes.
Bryant received an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art in London and a BA in Illustration from Camberwell College of Art. Her work has been exhibited at Unit 1 Gallery Workshop, London, UK; The White Space, London, UK; York Street Gallery, London, UK; ArtLacuna, London, UK; Neuer Kunstraum, Düsseldorf, Germany; Buinho, Messejana, Portugal, among others. Bryant lives and works in London, UK. She is a resident at The Bomb Factory Art Foundation.
Education
2021 – 2023 MA Sculpture, Royal College of Art
2015 – 2018 BA Illustration (First Class Honours), Camberwell College of Arts
2014 – 2015 Art Foundation, Suffolk New College
Selected Exhibitions
2024 Preemptive Listening, Film Premiere and Symposium at TATE
2023 Volatile Futures, Unit 1 Gallery Workshop, London
2023 Royal College of Art Degree Show, Truman Brewery, London
2023 Two Day Show, The White Space, London
A group show over the course of two days
2023 Pattern Recognition, ArtLacuna, London
A group show of immersive moving image, in collaboration with the National Trust
2023 ONE NIGHT STAND, 3 Lock Brewery, London
A one-night group show exhibiting works in progress.
2022 STACK, 67 York Street, London
Group show exploring the relationship between time and technology, focusing on the global impact of contemporary media.
2022 AKTION RAUMTAUSCH, Neuer Kunstraum, Düsseldorf, Germany
A collective was formed between seven artists – four from the RCA and three from Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. The show received funding to collaborate with the public in a series of events.
2022 We won’t stop showing, SET Woolwich, London
Group show to mark the annual RCA WIP show.
2020 hora de plástico, Buinho, Messejana, Portugal
A solo exhibition of 3D printed works to conclude the Buinho residency program.
2018 A Mythic Understanding, Camberwell College of Arts, London
A commission to collectively respond to David Jones’s poetry. Part of a month-long exhibition celebrating the centenary of the armistice of WW1.
2018 The Sane Asylum, London
An exhibition exploring themes of ‘Power and Resistance’ through theatre, poetry, music and art. A JolyLicks production.
2017 cell urself, London
A student lead exhibition held in the old police station in New Cross.
2016 TREMOR, Modern Art Oxford
Commission to make 3 short films for a night of music and art.
Residencies
2020 Buinho, Portugal
Artist in residence at Buinho in Messejana, Alentejo