The painter Oliver Marsden combines science and art to try to understand reality

While studying at university, the British painter Oliver Marsden (Reading, 1973) came into contact with new forms of science, which led him to try to understand reality.

By discovering the works of the scientist David Bohm he was able to know that solid matter is not solid, but is made of waves and energy. He then investigated Eastern traditions, such as Hinduism. Thus he came to a central focus in his work.

At first I poured paint and experimented. Gravity pulled everything towards a center. So I started working from a central point, from puddles and drops of water.Marsden points out to The Day on the occasion of his exhibition All We Have is Now, in the Hilario Galguera gallery.

The exhibition of 22 paintings, mainly acrylics, as well as oils, presents pieces iconic of the artist, but focuses on his recent work.

Marsden’s circular paintings from different series that convey a sensation of movement are widely known. Now, it is about expand your universe with work carried out in the last six years, says Víctor Mendoza, gallery director.

Marsden is an artist who has worked on minimalism and the impact of sound waves, but also others such as those of water, among other fluids.

I began to understand life in terms of forms of weight and energy. My paintings are reflections of energy that is in turn translated, along with light, back to the viewer.. Add: I always try to work with resilient sound-like tension with images of beats and colorful rhythms; that is, in the manner of a symphony that goes from the darkest points to the lightest. From existing to not existing, in which journey one has to be between both points.

For Marsden, the painting “will be with us forever. There are times when being in museums I have felt completely connected through history, from cave paintings, in a creative connection across the ages.

In my inquiries regarding Hinduism, as well as my beliefs around life and rebirth, everything has to do with philosophies and learning for the sake of understanding.

Its spirals are an observed shape both in our DNA and in the galaxies. They represent the maximum potentiality, the way of life.

One of the series of the exhibition, Hydra, It has to do with falling water. It all started because his father commissioned him to paint a waterfall for his mother’s birthday. It didn’t work out the first time, but it was something he kept coming back to almost as an unfinished business. I didn’t want to paint a waterfall as is, but rather capture what it left behind when there was no longer any water or movement, like a ghostly presence.

The resulting tables have to do with ideas of impermanence and how our lives are fragments when compared to nature, greatness and the expanse of time. I’m still learning to paint; I hope to do it for many yearsresume.

All We Have is Now It is presented until January 14 at the Hilario Galguera gallery (Francisco Pimentel 3, San Rafael neighborhood).