Olivia Bax

‘Grate Strati is a series of bronze sculptures I made during a residency at Fonderia Artistica Battaglia, Milan in July 2025. During the residency, I hand-modelled my own grille, inspired by the iron belly-bars on windows typical in Milan and other European cities. Behind the grille, I tacked together bronze off-cuts with discarded parts from the casting process. I was interested in the juxtaposition of the regular, repeated section caging a more irregular and varied assemblage.

This series of drawings are details captured from the sculptures. The black pen marks the varied lines. The watercolour was brushed on after, I used a lot of water to drown the paper and discovered that the colour both highlighted and disrupted the annotated form.

The drawings are much like the way I approach sculpture—having an armature in space is much like the line on the page; and this is what can be played with and messed up—adding chaos to structure. In all cases, I want to feel surprised by the outcome.’

About the Artist

Olivia Bax (b. 1988, Singapore) lives and works in London. She studied BA Fine Art at Byam Shaw School of Art, London (2007–2010) and MFA Sculpture at Slade School of Fine Art, London (2014–2016).

Recent solo exhibitions include Thresh and Hold, Ribot Gallery, Milan (2025); Handrailing, New Arts Centre, Roche Court (2024); Floss, Holtermann Fine Art, London (2024) and Cavalcade, BoLee and Workman, Bruton (2024). Recent group exhibition include Mary Mary, The Artist’s Garden, theCOLAB, London (2024–25); Passages, Encounter, Lisbon (2024); Phantom Sculpture, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre (2023–24); Confab Window: Olivia Bax & Veronika Hilger, Hatch, Paris (2023) and Eartheaters, Lustwarande, Platform for Contemporary Sculpture, Tilburg, Netherlands (2023). In 2024–25, Bax curated a major institutional exhibition called These Mad Hybrids (Royal West of England Academy, Bristol and Sheffield Museums, Sheffield) which situated a series of unknown ceramic sculptures made by John Hoyland (1934–2011) in dialogue with an international assembly of contemporary sculpture. Prizes and awards include Artist Research Fellow, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds (2023); The Mark Tanner Sculpture Award (2019/20) and the Kenneth Armitage Young Sculptor Prize (2016). Bax’s work is part of private and public collections including: The Arts Council, The Ingram Collection and Tremenheere Sculpture Park.

www.oliviabax.co.uk
Instagram @olivia_bax_

Grate Strati V, 2025. Pen and watercolour on bamboo paper, 15 × 10 cm. £150

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