“In order to be able to understand the process of love, inevitable loss and the reality that comes with it, one must embrace the concept of truth frst. The truth is as hard to tell, as it is to hear.” Staying true to her cause, this exhibition is a culmination of Olivia Steele’s emotional contrasts. In dialogue with herself, these contrasts encompass recent trials and tribulations that put a chillingly frm grip on reality. Fantasy & Reality. Life & Death. Falling in Love and Letting go. Meeting with Triumph and Disaster – all themes which sum up the undertone of this collection. For Olivia Steele the sentiment “Mind over Matter” has the power to rationalise any challenging situation. By celebrating this fact and the process that comes with it, one learns to deal with the truth that we will all loose the things we hold most dear – “The Truth Hurts, But Then It Will Set You Free”.
By placing neon statements of layered and interpretable meaning, in contradictory spaces or settings, her fuorescent statements blend with the texture of a confrontational or conciliatory image; Olivia Steele inspires a surprising internal dialogue with an individual in response to her art. The ambiguity and irony of Steele’s personal and lyrical statements are refreshing as the work speaks in a simplistic vocabulary set against a depth delivered in layers of philosophical, spiritual and visual inspired meaning.
Steele’s signature juxtaposition of iconic photographs and symbolic statements often jar her viewers beyond the everyday. By charging these iconographic images with her independent commentary, she attempts to challenge viewers’ assumptions about modern culture and conventional semiotics. Her more sentimental neon statements straddle the line between sincerity and sarcasm, often leaving her viewer intrigued.
