
"Vincent in the Yellow House", oil on canvas, 36" x 36", 2006
Paintings are from £350 - £900 (or negotiable)
Maureen Oliver
A lifelong interest in spirituality led me to conversion to Catholicism at 19 as well as involvement in the revival of belief in the Great Goddess and an interest in the mythologies and religions of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman societies. Now a grandmother, I brought up my two daughters on my own. Life has had its fair share of problems - isolation, mental breakdown, financial struggle, loss and disability. But also love and friendship, children and laughter, the gifts of the spirit, colour and form and light, images, ideas - painting!
"The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places."
- Hemingway
Past Exhibitions, Reviews & Articles
The London Group at Camden Arts Centre (1975)
The Matrix Group at South London Art Gallery (1977)
Brixton Artists Collective (1983-1985)
Morley Artists at Morley Gallery, London (1986)
"London Artists", Royal Festival Hall (1987)
"Retrospective", Diorama Arts Centre, London (2001)
"Reflections", Wimbledon Library Gallery (2003)
"Recent Paintings", Wimbledon Library Gallery (2005)
Society of Catholic Artists, Fairfield Halls, Croydon (2005)
Included in Spalding's "British Painters and Sculptors of the 20th Century" (1992)
Review: "Temporal Probe" , The Surrey Comet (13th June 2003)
Interview: "Telling Stories", by Hanne Olsen (October 2003)
Featured Artist: "Reflections, Positive Images", Fine Art Magazine (Winter 2004)
Article: DAIL (Disability Arts In London) Magazine (March/April 2005)
Review: Society of Catholic Artists Bulletin (Spring 2005)
"Maureen Oliver's paintings
could be described not merely as suspended reality, but as another dimension of reality. They encompass the vividly swirling colours, textures and perspectives of modern art, but in more recognizable story forms. A viewer will be mesmerized by the human drama, while still experiencing a universal interest in wishing to know more about the character. No photograph could relay the coldness of pain or the warmth of sun as well as Oliver's palette and passion, and in this, she displays her total conviction to emotion.
"Spirituality-based themes are often found in Oliver's work, yet are comprised and blended with mythological and Catholic imagery. Her works expertly reflect a lifetime of art from the instinctive pursuing of it as a child, to a training professionally in history and theory. Maureen Oliver is a native Londoner who resides and exhibits her work throughout England while pursuing the goal of spiritually reaching people with her art."
- Art is Spectrum - the Chelsea Perspective