was born in South Texas on the border of Mexico and spent time living in Latin America. Now she lives in the high desert in central Oregon, among the volcanoes, mountain lions and magpies)
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Irene Hardwicke Olivieri doesn’t travel far to find inspiration for her work. Most of the time, it’s literally in her own back yard, where Olivieri translates the relationship between the natural world and her own life into her colorful, mysterious images.
“I am interested in the cycles of nature, the symbiotic relationships in the plant/animal world and the parallels between human relationships,” she says. [800x880]
“I am always painting about love and obsessions, parts of life that are often felt but rarely talked about. I love the subterranean aspects of life, all that goes on beneath the surface. Many of my paintings are detailed with tiny text which winds through them like a circulatory system of the image I am painting.” [900x376] [834x678]
Olivieri says her paintings have helped her to survive some very trying times in her life, allowing her to share some very secret parts of her own research into the natural world, a place where she is “endlessly fascinated.”
“Each painting tells some kind of story, situation, or experience,” she says [850x2024] [850x265] [681x454] [850x1705]
Fig, pommegranate, persimmon [296x673]