The shots in this story are of the work that still interests me at the moment. Some are quite old pieces, others are things that I made a couple of weeks ago. I chose the work because I think it gives a really accurate representation of who I am as an artist now.
This is my artists statement...
‘It seems that ultimately Oliver Herbert is an artist who makes serious work with a sense of humour...
...in so doing is willing not to duck the more problematic aspects of handling serious and potentially inflammatory subject matter in this way. In refusing to make easily digestible his own position on the topics with which he deals, he also rejects the position of patrician artist, definitively handing our own guilt, be it righteous or misplaced back to us, inviting us to process our own experience of the work and its pertinence to the social and political landscape for ourselves.’ Rose Ruane - On Oliver Herbert, New Writing Scotland Project 2007, Collective Gallery
A childhood of weekly trips to Liverpool's slave museum, the Northwich Salt Museum, Manchester Airport viewing park and the Tate gallery have formed the basis for my interests as an artist. I am always looking at ways to combine the un-combinable, to make opposites meet to form a very shiny, morbid, sticky mess. The double edged sword of glamour and excess. I aim to complicate the uncomplicated and relish the tension that exists in patronage, commissioning and production in art, craft and fashion.