Talk #123

Olivia Sterling

Olivia Sterling graduated with an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art. They have exhibited at Meyer Riegger (Berlin 2022) Guts Gallery (London, 2022), NEVVEN (Gothenburg, 2022), CCA Goldsmiths (London, 2021), Cob Gallery (London, 2021), White Cube (Online, 2020) Sterling lives and works in London, United Kingdom.

In her paintings, Sterling presents the viewer with scenes of daily life that subtly critical attitudes towards race, class, gender and social status. While her typically closely cropped and vividly colored canvases - teeming with arms, legs and half-eaten food - may seem playful at first sight, they do in fact tackle subjects that are anything but. In this way, Sterling's artworks can be seen as contemporary genre paintings, designed to make us reflect upon the world around us. Through her work's outwardly jovial exterior, Sterling lulls us into a false sense of security and forces us to consider our own misconceptions and prejudices.