Olivia Lennon

About

Olivia Lennon paints labour intensive watercolour miniatures exploring contemporary, historical and poetic theories of the nature of the universe. Lennon‘s watercolours are executed in interference pigments on vinyl paint. The dense matte blacks of the vinyl contrast with the opalescent nature of the interference pigments, encouraging the viewer to shift their position to see the colours of the image in its entirety. Interference watercolour pigments are grains of the translucent mineral mica thinly electroplated in different thicknesses of titanium white. The thickness of the titanium determines the angle of refraction of light above the paint, creating the optical illusion of colour. Each painting explores a single historical or theoretical facet of observations or speculations of outer space. Lennon's works circle around the topics of navigation, topography, mapping and the search for resources in space. Lennon’s work is as much poetic as scientifically informed and thereby reflects the constant process of de- and reconstruction that takes place in ordered and chaotic views of the cosmos.