Visual artist Louis Olivier, presents his latest body of work titled Beginsel at Worldart Gallery on 26 November 2012. This exhibition is Olivier’s first solo exhibition in Cape Town, and it will be followed by his third Johannesburg based solo exhibition at Artspace JHB in 2013.

Explaining his current work, Olivier says, “I use my body as a platform to reflect the known, the unknown, the tangible, the mystery and the secret of man. The body as a form in sculpture has always fascinated me. I wish for the viewer to become engaged with the body as a metaphor of what we accept as our flesh and spirit”.

The exhibition Beginsel consists of a series of drawings and sculpture depicting studies of body positions and forms. The exhibition is a spiritual search, and the emotional reflections of man with tension between the restricted form and the power to break free. Olivier moves beyond the boundaries of the form, moving forward and then retreating back to its origin as a male figure.

Louis Olivier was born in 1976 in Vereeniging and he grew up in Bethal in Mpumalanga. He graduated from the University of Pretoria with a degree in information technology. In 2001 he made a career change and moved from commerce to visual art cutting his teeth in the field of commercial art. He worked on creating themed environments including the uShaka Marine World Aquarium in Durban and Ibn Batuta Mall in Dubai. During this time he developed his considerable skills in moulding, casting and welding thereby gaining an invaluable knowledge of material.

Olivier now lives and works in Johannesburg after moving his studio from Pretoria earlier this year to establish ‘Workhorse’, a bronze foundry and art studio.

Olivier formed part of the Artspace Mentorship Programme in 2009 and was mentored by the established artist Wilma Cruise. Their relationship continued over a year with intensive guidelines from Cruise, and the nurturing of Olivier, who produced a body of works for his first solo exhibition at Artspace that year. The show was a sell-out and a second sell-out exhibition at Artspace followed in 2011.

The exhibition closes on the 12 December 2012.