Oli Epp

Interested in examining human relationships with technology, social media and contemporary material culture, London based artist, Oil Epp’s absurd looking paintings commentate on a number of themes relating to the tragicomic elements of living in 21st century society. The overtly flat planes of Epp’s work combine airbrush, oil, and acrylic to create what he describes as ‘Post-Digital Pop’. 

The half Canadian, half British artist, bases himself in London, where he recently graduated from the City & Guilds of London Art School with a BA in Fine Art - upon graduating he announced through instagram that all his works had sold out, with the hashtag #sold-out. In 2016, he was featured in a GQ article entitled, ‘Early Blue Chip Artists to Invest In’. He has since gained public recognition thanks to his paintings slick, bold and simplistic facture. 

Epp is inspired by pop art, infusing his works with recognised symbols of mass produced goods, such as McDonalds and Coca Cola. His subjects are often depicted as amorphous creatures with little to no facial features - a reflection on the lack of human interaction in a growing digital age. ‘Carpe Diem’ portrays an amorphous figure in a McDonald’s cap. The flat simplistic nature of the work shows Epp’s sharp sense of humour, but is equally collared by the sobering realisation that is our materialistic society.

Oli Epp has already enjoyed record-breaking auction results and institutional shows in Austria, Leipzig and Paris. His most recent auction record was at Phillips with his ‘Whistleblower’, selling for £144,900 - nearly ten times more the work’s estimate. Bidders hailed from more than 10 different countries signifying the ever-growing interest in Epp’s visual language, depicting featureless human figures that exaggerate the absurdities of contemporary life. The simplicity of his work makes it an all the more effective tool of critical commentary, that people continue to collect.