Oliver Tanay

Oliver Akdeniz is a young ceramic artist whose work is characterised by story-driven compositions, striking glazes and a distinctive textural style. A graduate of UAL, Central St Martin's, he currently works out of his studio in Sussex.

Working in porcelain and other clays, Oliver uses his ceramic art to draw attention to environmental issues; his pieces dealing in different ways with problems affecting our natural world.

In each of his pieces, the cost of environmental change is focalised through the central figure of the bee  which serves throughout his work as a symbol of both vulnerability and hope for the future.

Juxtaposing fashion and ceramics, the  Beehive Skirt is a meditation on the environmental impacts of fashion production and consumption.

The Pollen Path series further highlights the plight of the bee, through an artful ceramic recreation of the texture of pollen.

Pollen is the life source, and the pollen path is the path to the centre.

In his Cracked Earth series, Oliver has pioneered a unique crackle texture, designed to evoke the geometric forms of parched earth, as a comment on the growing frequency of drought conditions. This textural meaning is complemented by Oliver's use of glazes, which speak about other environmental issues, including wildfires and the pollution of the seas.