 Olivier Suire Verley was
born October 2, 1952 in La Rochelle (on the Atlantic coast
of France, a historic site
of religious war between Protestants and Roman Chatholics in
the XVIIth century) to a family of artists. His grandfather
Louis Suire was a renowned painter (Oliver added his mother’s
maiden name, Verley to his father’s name so as not to
be confused with his grandfather, whom he cherished and admired)
and his father Claude (now retired) was a publisher of art
books
and is an amateur painter himself.
Olivier studied in La Rochelle first, then in Tours with Jean
Abadie. Moving to Paris, he also studied etching with Pierre
Gandon, Albert Decaris and Caillevaert Brun. Of a surrealistic
tendency,
the themes of his paintings of the time were based upon evasion
from reality, fantastic travels and the sea. During that period,
the colors in his palette were dark and melancholic. He illustrated
texts by Cliford Simac and Assimov for the publisher Louis
Pauwels.
1982 marked a profound change in Olivier’s inspiration:
as by a refining process, it turned to become a quest for the
essentiality in life, leading the artist to discover the salutary
power of color. From that time onwards, his themes also changed;
landscapes, still-lifes, portraits and again, the ever-present
sea — the sea of Île de Ré — a small island
off La Rochelle. He left Paris definitively and settled on
that island,
where
he
lives and works today.
Since then, his inspiration has drawn first from the colors
of the holiday season in Île de
Ré and on the Atlantic coast
of France; then from those of Paris streets in winter or at
night, and more recently from the light of Morocco and Spain.
Today, Olivier seeks to meditate again on evasion, the eleswhere
of our dreams, of our regrets sometimes, and of our hopes forever.
Always looking for new lights, Olivier travels often: Italy
(Rome, Venice), Morocco, Spain, Egypt, Mauritius...
Olivier is married to Anne-Marie and they have
two boys. He is very reluctant to appear in public, keeping
his radiant personality for selected friends and for his family.
The AddisonArtGallery was happy to have Olivier at his U.S.
opening reception in 2005.
He has shown in Paris, Lyon and Tokyo.
His work is featured in the beautiful book, Ailleurs.
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