Tom Osborne’s twin exhibitions in London in New York use outdated strategies to inform modern tales

‘There’s a frequent factor in my work, the place I discover issues which are nameable, after which they kind of collapse in on themselves,’ says painter Oliver Osborne, who’s uniting eclectic sides from his oeuvre in exhibition, Ooh! ‘The slowness of portray means they cease being in regards to the topic, and I’m within the second it begins to unravel – it’s actually about the way you deliver two issues collectively.’

Edinburgh-born, Berlin-based artist Osborne is fascinated with the layers of which means that embody a portray, notably of their relationship to the passing of time, seen most importantly in new portraits of his three sons. In present exhibitions at Union Pacific, London, and at Francis Irv, New York, Osborne attracts on historic artwork references to create modern portraits, in a consideration of what preserving these moments of youth means within the digital age.

Endurance is essential for Osborne, who cites repetition as an necessary facet in his works. ‘It turned fairly a great way to simply hold working. If you happen to’re making an attempt to do one thing, by coming again to the identical issues, you’re standing nonetheless to maneuver forwards, and also you inevitably get some kind of shift. However there’s additionally an even bigger thought occurring, which is kind of analogous to the expertise of digital life, the place repetition, circulation and a kind of dislocation is extra what it is prefer to be on-line, and the best way photos behave there.’

Osborne combines these concerns of youth and time alongside extra comedian works. Ooh, the exhibition takes its identify from Osborne’s early works which think about comedy’s place in artwork, searching for which means in each the position of textual content itself, and in addition the inflection of phrases. Relying the way you say it, ooh! is ripe with attainable meanings, using the wave from teasing to naughty, shocked or offended.