An Interview With Olivia Mansfield
Olivia Mansfield's art explores themes of life, death, transformation, love, loss, and longing through expressive depictions of flora, fauna, and the human figure within evocative landscapes. Her intuitive process blends abstract and descriptive elements, creating powerful, often female figures that dominate the canvas. These figures embody primordial power, connecting to archetypes like the Mother and Sorceress. The artist's work invites viewers to engage with their own primal instincts and confront the vulnerability of existence in an ever-changing world, ultimately encouraging self-exploration and a deeper understanding of the human condition.
Can you tell us a little bit about you?
I am a multidisciplinary artist working predominantly as a painter, but also in printmaking, ceramics, glass and installation, having explored a variety of mediums over the years. I obtained my Foundation Diploma in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins before studying for my BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Goldsmiths University of London. After graduating I kept a studio in Brixton, South London. In recent years, since starting a family, I have moved away from London life to a more rural setting in Northamptonshire, closer to where I grew up in Milton Keynes. I now work from a lovely home studio, which allows me to balance time and space between my practice and family. My paintings range from small scale, miniatures/A5/A4/A3, to much larger scale linens and canvasses. I find it really interesting moving between the various proportions; it shifts the focus, the detail, and changes the point of perspective. My intuitive process allows me to move and engage naturally with the imagery manifesting within my work. The conscious mind is given over to instinct, guided by feeling rather than thinking. Within this state and with delicate and wistful gestures of a brush stroke, I tentatively tease out and try to understand the unravelling forms which appear before me.
Your paintings are filled with symbolic imagery, such as orphic symbols and flora and fauna. What inspired you to use these symbols, and what do they represent?
For a long time, without properly realising, I've been making a kind of mediumistic art: going on journeys into unknown worlds and 'vesseling' imagery that manifests as these sort of epic, atmospheric dreamscapes on the canvas. My practice is an exploration inspired by inner and outer worlds, the subconscious mind and surreal psychic realms. Accessing and maintaining a meditative, almost trancelike state whilst producing my work (particularly the larger works) is very natural to me. It's always been how I become connected to the surface in front of me, like I'm psychologically immersed in what’s happening in the piece. I make marks and allow fluidity in movement and gesture, both blurring my vision and keeping things very loose in my arm and hand. Then, when stepping back to see what has emerged, I often discover unusual plant forms, flowers, mountains, caves, faces and beasts scattered and hidden in the colours, shapes and patterns of the paint. I love going through the work and discovering pockets of magic: flickering flames upon an altar, a shimmer of wings in a cloud, the curve of a serpent’s scales. They all convey a sense of unworldliness or mysticism and intrigue as to where this painting is taking us, what is the unfolding story here?
Your work often explores the female archetype. What is the significance of this theme for you?
I grew up surrounded by lots of different imagery of the divine feminine in so many forms. I was brought up in a shared living community with people of many different backgrounds, faiths and beliefs. Iconography of The Madonna and Child, of various Hindu Gods and mother Goddesses, stories and imagery of ancient Celtic Saints and Pagan deities, such as Brigid, Diana, and Danu were all inspirations. From my own childhood journey as a girl, woman and becoming a Mother etc, The Female archetype has been a concept I've been exploring for a long time. People who view my figurative pieces often comment that they see parts of themselves in the work. I'm always so touched by this kind of connection. I think that trying to remain vulnerable and honest in my practice probably invites that kind of stirring, emotional connection from others.
How does nature inspire and inform your art?
I have always been and forever will be inspired by creation and nature in my practice, both on a conscious and unconscious level. Whether it be deep craggy caves or tranquil mountain summits, the canopies of trees, the murmurations of birds, or the lusciousness of ferns, mosses and lichens on the forest floor, the organic, elemental textures of the natural world usually slip in there without me even realising it. The idea of portraying 'sublime' nature, of those awe-inspiring, ethereal visions of our natural world entwined with spiritual, more esoteric and figurative aspects is exciting. I want to provoke and open a dialogue with the viewer, encouraging them to tap into something bigger, something more expansive and primal, to maybe acknowledging our intrinsic physical and spiritual symbiotic relationship with other spheres, other beings yet also linked with our own earthly natural world.
What does abstraction mean to you?
Abstraction to me is juxtaposition of forms. It means looking through odd or tinted glasses, through blurred and jaded vision, a mottled translucent veil. Shapes splintered and fragmented, hidden aspects of a tangible reality, glazed layers of metamorphic forms and ideas. Familiar enough but also slightly unnerving in its madness, a kind of chaos made sense; an order through disorder, finding rhythm and harmony in the most unlikely places.
What keeps you motivated to continue creating art?
Honestly it's a drive that is very deep. I have a really active mind and ebullient creative energy; if I don't release it then pressure builds. Words like cathartic, necessary, therapeutic, essential, curious and enquiring all come to mind. My work is always evolving, which is exciting and that keeps me driven. As the dynamics of my life shift, so do the fluctuations in my practice and this always leads to a compelling pattern of transformation and realisation on the canvas.
Your earliest memory of art?
My mum had a huge poster of an Edward Robert Hughes painting, 'Night with her Train of Stars', from when I was around five years old. I loved it so much I asked her to put it up in my bedroom. I vividly remember drifting off to sleep absolutely captivated by the dreamy, celestial essence of it, and I still very much enjoy the Pre Raphaelites today!
Are there any artists or art movements that have influenced your work? How have these influences shaped your style and approach?
I adore the likes of Leonora Carrington, Hilma af Klint and Max Ernst, and surrealism overall as a movement, particularly the idea of tapping into that unpredictable landscape of the subconscious mind. Their connection to the materiality of the medium and the sort of untethered, otherworldly nature of the outcome, both incredibly amorphous and strange but at the same time totally relatable. William Blake, Odilon Redon, Richard Dadd, and the splintered landscapes of Paul Nash crop up a lot. And with my love of art history come the Old Masters; Rubens, Raphael, Botticelli etc. all big influences, with their classical imagery and iconography. And anything from obscure medieval or alchemical illuminated manuscripts, the more the bizarre and outlandish the better!
What is your favourite book or film and why?
It’s so hard to narrow it down, but I'm going to say a film - 'The Fall', 2006, directed by Tarsen Singh. It’s just the most epic thing I've ever seen on a screen – a very big statement I know – but if you've seen it you will understand! It’s so beautifully seductive and enchanting. The storytelling, the cinematography, the colours, the locations, it is utterly sublime, and every time I re-watch it I am just as captivated as I was the first time.
Are you working on any projects you are particularly excited about?
I have a couple of postcard-sized works in the upcoming Art on a Postcard auction for International Women's day. I love working with AOAPC, they're a great organisation of wonderful people raising crucial funds for charity, and there is always a beautiful selection of exciting artworks to collect. I'm also working on getting an arts residency opportunity going, potentially with the help of some other creatives too, but it’s very early stages right now. I think facilitating and providing space where artists can come together to share skills, connect to nature and cultivate their creativity is a really special thing, so stay tuned for what’s next on that front! Other than that, I'm busy working on a series in the studio at the moment, with motifs/narratives surrounding the legend of the 'She Wolf' or 'Lupa' from Roman mythology. Ideas of protection and shelter, guardianship and fertility and the symbology of Great Mother archetype; the overarching theme of life itself and its feminine origins; birth, life, death, rebirth and so on.