First art talk with Sven Henric Olde

Sven Henric Olde, born in 1989, now lives as a free­lan­ce artist in Hamm and Cologne. Until the sum­mer of 2007, he stu­di­ed Graphic and Communication Design at the Department of Design at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, gra­dua­ting with distinc­tion with a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Arts – award­ed with distinc­tion becau­se he approa­ched his stu­dies in an inter­di­sci­pli­na­ry man­ner and with a keen inte­rest in art, cul­tu­re and lite­ra­tu­re. From the very begin­ning, he enga­ged with the­mes that were exis­ten­ti­al for him, both crea­tively and theo­re­ti­cal­ly, and set out with gre­at dedi­ca­ti­on and impres­si­ve inde­pen­dence to inte­gra­te his pas­si­on for art (Passione per l’arte, Sandro Chia’s sculp­tu­re at Bielefeld Town Hall) into the theo­ry and prac­ti­ce of gra­phic design – ran­ging from unor­tho­dox stu­dies of peo­p­le and sur­rea­li­stic snapshots taken whilst tra­vel­ling to artis­tic, nar­ra­ti­ve pic­tu­re sto­ries that, in the style of a dia­ry, depict the repre­sen­ta­ti­on of life and the world in art. Here, Sven Henric Olde approa­ches the sub­ject like a poet who, unli­ke an ana­lyst, sees much more and much fur­ther into objects, mate­ri­al evi­dence and phe­no­me­na than is actual­ly pos­si­ble accor­ding to the rules of reason.
It is the­r­e­fo­re no sur­pri­se that, ever sin­ce lea­ving school, Sven Henric Olde has con­sis­t­ent­ly enga­ged in artis­tic pur­suits and has not only exhi­bi­ted his work in various venues but has also repea­ted­ly taken on the role of a com­mu­ni­ca­tor of artis­tic ide­as and con­cepts, for ins­tance, ear­ly on as head of the art club at St. Michael’s Grammar School in Ahlen, as a tutor in the Graphic and Communication Design pro­gram­me, as a rese­arch assistant in the print work­shop for reli­ef and intaglio prin­ting at the Design Department of Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, and curr­ent­ly as an art lec­tu­rer and artis­tic direc­tor of the Kunstverein Ahlen e.V.

Through his num­e­rous tra­vels and stays abroad, during which Sven Henric Olde drew a wealth of fresh inspi­ra­ti­on for his artis­tic works and pro­jects, his fri­end­ly natu­re brought him into cont­act with many artists, making it incre­asing­ly clear to him that his art and his life are inex­tri­ca­bly lin­ked.
It all began around 2015, when he star­ted explo­ring the sub­ject of his Master’s the­sis: the the­me of lon­ging. Travel and rest. Aimlessness as a prin­ci­ple and the nar­ra­ti­ve art book *In der Ferne die Möwen*.
Through the sto­ry in this art book, Sven Henric Olde pro­ves hims­elf to be a lite­ra­ry aut­hor, if not a poet. With impres­si­ve ima­gi­na­ti­on, he descri­bes his protagonist’s exis­ten­ti­al jour­ney from a bur­den­so­me ever­y­day life, through the cha­os of the pas­sa­ge of time and life its­elf, along a see­mingly sur­re­al path towards an equal­ly sur­re­al desti­na­ti­on – which in this case is the sea, the fly­ing seagulls, the distance…. Whether the hoped-for desti­na­ti­on has been rea­ched and the sto­ry comes to a hap­py con­clu­si­on remains open to inter­pre­ta­ti­on, and the ques­ti­ons sur­roun­ding this and its under­ly­ing the­mes con­ti­nue to occu­py the reader’s mind.
Drawing on this sto­ry – which is available as an art edi­ti­on on request – and his own art­work, Sven Henric Olde has crea­ted what is, in the truest sen­se of the word, a grand art book, in which his fan­ta­sti­cal tale is brought to life through a striking blend of inno­va­ti­ve typo­gra­phy, a sel­ec­tion of images that build sus­pen­se, and a coun­ter­point-like inter­play of visu­al and tex­tu­al ele­ments.
Sven Henric Olde con­ti­nues to work in this style to this day – in his pain­tings, dra­wings and ‘one-liners’, one of which was crea­ted pri­or to the art talk at the Kunstverein’s Old Synagogue.