Oliver Berchmans

Oliver’s understanding and respect of the splendour of marble is encapsulated in the subtle emotive narratives in his figurative and abstract sculptures. Whether it is his admiration of the marble stone in itself that is so essential to Oliver, or his skill in bronze and clay sculpture. He possesses an artistic lucidity that allows him to stylise and simplify and find fundamental and essential forms. Within that context, he illuminates the structures and textures as the language of the sculpture, as it embodies the natural stone or bronze, with the urge and the desire to touch and feel. It is this tactile element that resonates so powerfully in his marble work, with the understated symbolism and nuances of the message he conveys; his Buddha or the sophistication of a person. It is this subtly that exemplifies the idea of modernism in his artwork whether it’s of his carved in a red travertine marble that weighs the symbolism, but in an elegant refinement that the graduation and variation are present in a gentleness, that enhances the appreciation of the marble. This abstraction, the abiding direction of his marble artwork, that resonates the Zimbabwean Shona art, allowing the stone material to speak in the striking lucidity of his pieces.

Oliver’s journey into a career as an artist, is somewhat unconventional, following a lengthy career in Corporate HR traveling the world. This inspired his education into the art world, visiting cities like Florence, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney observing the sculptures as he journeyed through cities, and delighting himself with the tactile of sculpture. It was 14 years ago in 2010, that Oliver decided to take courses and learn the art form. In the beginning, it was the modelling with clay, from live models, most of the works concentrated on heads and faces. Oliver surprised himself with the ease he felt when he began holding the clay to form a face. As a boy, he recalls not being particularly interested in art, but more into music, growing up in Westmeath in the midlands in Ireland about 50 miles from Dublin. His mum was a local business woman running her own pharmacy, and his father was a farmer. He recalls spending most of his time in the pharmacy, and learning from her ambitious and determined business mindedness, as she raised four children. She was 96 when she died and served as the longest female serving pharmacist in Ireland in 2000. He describes his dad as a gentleman farmer, as he ran cattle on 200 acres of land. He recalls the hot physical work, of farm life that he did not enjoy.

Not really interested in art as a student, his O/A Levels included subjects such as Geography and Latin. Oliver emphasises he initially spent time in a monastery with an order of monks that had a mission in the Far East. He spent these early years reading philosophy and theology and then later studied hotel management. The schools had little focus on Art back then he explains, so he spent two years reading philosophy, and two years theology. “Reflection was key to my personal and spiritual development during these early years” Oliver explains, and is the narrative in his later work as an artist. However, Oliver’s sister applied for him to attend hotel school, with one year’s training in Switzerland and he won a scholarship to study in New York for a year. Oliver’s extensive career in the hotel industry, eventually broadening his education into art, by allowing him to travel across continents, and the more he travelled the more the art world excited him. Especially the sculptures he came across, the styles gave him an insight into people’s cultures, history and personalities and got him thinking of his next career. He worked in Moscow, the Middle East, USA, Europe and Africa running management courses, he was still in his early 30’s. His career expanded into information technology, where he worked as director for Learning and Development in Europe for a technology based company. Later in his 50’s promoted to a Global Director role for the same company, this offered him the opportunity to travel more, and the more he travelled from city to city, so too did his love for art as he was engulfed with the culture of all the places he visited, particularly his love for sculpture. Then the company moved to Dallas and Oliver was made redundant.

Oliver then set up his own business in HR consultancy work, Bluedoodle a management training company and he worked in Human resources part time, for a company providing foreign currency to Companies in the Financial Sector. During Covid he lost most of his business. However, his love affair with sculpture, his interest in the three dimensional and the “touchy feeley”as he likes to accentuate the texture of sculptures, and particularly Italy, he began to be inspired. He was in his 50’s when he joined the London Art Academy, to study figurative sculpture. He started with the techniques of additive sculpture, which is primarily the use of basic techniques. He explains that sculpture processes are either additive or subtractive where the material is removed or carved out or additive in this case the material is added.

His classes began using either clay or wax and working from a life model and creating something abstract. He did notice a natural talent and ability, and during our conversation, we start looking back into his childhood, Oliver recalls how he used to create things around Christmas with a nativity scene, bringing in things from the garden and creating a display, he had the same flair, creating displays with food whilst at Hotel School. Although making heads from clay, was altogether somewhat different. He then attended a two year course, making Bronze sculptures. Learning the complex processes. Whilst working in bronze can be complex and a labour intensive process it is the bronze metal casting that he found to be very expensive even if there are less expensive types of casting

Oliver started working in stone visiting the medieval city of Pietrasanta in Italy. The town is close to the Carrera marble mines, where Michelangelo worked and is the hub of international sculpture featuring artists such as Bottero and Mitoraj.  Here he learnt to carve himself, using hand chisels and air hammers, The white marble is the easier marble to carve he tells me as all the marble stones are so different to work with. He particularly likes to work with red travertine. He emphasises how he uses the character of the original stone, challenging himself if he can show a personality type emerge in a piece of sculpture. “Art is so personal” he explains, his earlier work is all about personality types, the introvert, the extrovert, and the abstract thinker, all based on Karl Jung’s psychological theories, expressed through The Myer Briggs personality Types framework People and places inspire his art, with narrative playing an essential part.

He considers his greatest achievements so far, “Running the Marathon, the twenty years he had running his own successful business” he tells me. He then spoke about donating a piece of sculpture to his village, Tyrrellspass in Ireland. The work was unveiled three years ago and is entitled Recognising Women and honours the contribution that Countess Belvedere and other women made to the village over a period of 200 years. I asked him what he considers perfection,  “Having the ability to show detail, especially in abstract form” he points out that as an abstract thinker detail was never a strength! “If someone says they love a piece of work, that is perfection, in abstract form” he explains. I ask him what is really behind his work, his personality he explains. The factors that allow him to love an artwork, are the detail, colour, the ability to touch, and appealing to our senses. I then asked him if he could have any artwork, what would it be, and he told me any piece by Michelangelo. He pauses for a few minutes, and then specifically mentions The Veiled Virgin, with her head bowed, as he searches for an image on the internet to show me. I observe, that Oliver has a bowed head in a lot of his work, which he says is his personality type, the introvert in him and focus on Reflection. 

Interview: Antoinette Haselhorst