EC2Y 8QQ

Acrylic on board
28cm x 35.3cm

Olivia Turner is an Edinburgh-based artist whose work focuses on manipulating spaces through two/three dimensional outcomes.

Having enjoyed a string of successes after graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2015, she has become a notable artist in Edinburgh’s creative scene. Turner has continued to develop her practice and exhibits worldwide. In 2015 she co-founded DOK Artist Space, a grass-roots contemporary exhibition and studio space in Edinburgh, where she ran an acclaimed exhibition programme until 2018. She has been a recipient of several Awards: including RSA Latimer Award; RSA Sir William Gillies Bequest Award; Open Contemporary Young Artist Award.

In 2018 she was invited to co-produce the Architecture Fringe Festival across Scotland and has recently finished her term as the President of Society of Scottish Artists.

Olivia Turner’s concern with spatial awareness is evident within her work, which continually plays with conventional ideas about spaces. Her paintings are densely multi-faceted representations of Brutalist buildings with composition, form and structure playing an integral part in her paintings. Developed from her photographs and drawings, the compositions are built up from multiple viewpoints. She continuously layers drawings on tracing paper, allowing her to explore countless configurations, carefully refining these before they are developed into paintings.

By isolating her compositions from their original surroundings, she wants to give the viewer no option but to interact with them. Turner wants the viewer to see the true beauty of these buildings, starting a conversation around the loss of them in society. Her main intention is to alter a place by creating a new space within it, causing the viewer to question their perception of their own experience of the space.