CONTROL Gallery is pleased to announce Cheap Thrills & Tons of Smoke for Maximum Joy, a collection of new works from Los Angeles-based artist Guillaume Ollivier. Bringing to life a unique assemblage of everyday objects, Ollivier’s paintings find beauty and joy in the excesses of modern life, embodying the global, interconnected exuberance of the present age. His work asks whether we are on the brink of a precipice or the dawn of something new, creating dialogue that unfolds between the artificial and natural realms, compelling viewers to embrace fabricated environments without forsaking the beauty of nature. Employing the canvas as a symbolic representation of human dominion over natural spaces, Ollivier transforms these elements into aesthetic treasures.
“I want to contribute to the world in the right way," Ollivier says. "Maybe through laughter and awe. Seeing our crazy obsession with over-the-top stuff always cracks me up. It’s wild. There’s a weird beauty in excess and going overboard. Sometimes it creates this unpredictable thing that’s a bit messy or ugly, but it’s always amusing. I love exploring how this connects us all, making art that celebrates our quirky togetherness and reinforces our sense of shared identity and harmony."
For his latest body of work, Ollivier pays homage to the intricate cultural and historical journey leading to our present era, marked by constant fusion and transformation. This new collection of paintings serve as unpredictable symphonies that seamlessly integrate with a fading artificial landscape. Rooted in American culture and design, these works invoke the spirit and extravagance of the late Baroque era, skillfully merging that period with the allure of modern design, reminiscent of both Las Vegas hotels and the grandeur of Versailles.
In his artistic universe, which he considers his ‘gardens,’ Ollivier blends architecture, building and decaying opulence with the indulgent, the beautiful, and the excessive, creating deeply moving and thought-provoking art that stands at the intersection of historical movements and contemporary societal narratives.
“Guillaume Ollivier’s work is exciting and nostalgic in both an anthropological and art historical sense," CONTROL Gallery Director Aurora Fisher says. "He explores concepts of excess and hyper-stimulation through the laborious layering of time-specific cultural ideals, and stylistic references to the past. Each painting is composed of intentional moments of opulence and modernity in competition with time and natural space; the ornate stained glass and ultra-polished surfaces reflecting a glimpse of a forest-scape, a nod to Albert Bierstad’s “The Last of the Buffalo” slowly being overwhelmed by carnival lights and carousel horses, an overlap of artificial lights and gaudy carpet patterns of a casino floor giving way to peepholes of clear skies. Though there is a visceral sense of eventuality, throughout this body of work, the way one knows a bowl of fruit will rot, or that a metal pipe will rust, these respites of calm and clarity seem to punctuate a sense of hope in the chaos of impending decline."
