Bistrot à Marseille, 2026

Guy Olivier  

Vital spontaneity, the esprit of the South, but above all empathetic exuberance almost literally splash from the work of Guy Olivier (Maastricht, 1964). In the scenes on his canvases – whether they are portraits of voluptuous self-confident young women or drunken night owls who have suddenly seen light or love, of dinner parties gone wrong or Fellini-esque circus scenes – the theatrical exuberance of celebrated life on canvas and paper. Bis geht nicht mehr.

Wherever you attend exhibitions of Guy Olivier's work with an old-fashioned vernissage, the air vibrates and shudders between the visitors' eyes and the colorful canvas. Guy succeeds in transferring his wonderful sense of color and vital and exuberant joie de vivre directly to the canvas and thus directly to the viewer. That natural-looking skill – but also his distinguished, almost classic-looking handwriting – seems to come straight from the heart of the tube and the artist.

I have already experienced many vernissages with work by the Dutch artist Guy Olivier, who lives and works in Amsterdam. In addition, I have always observed the people who enter. I have never seen anyone who walked past the works without surprise, admiration or wide-eyed. This has of course to do with their explicit presence, but it is mainly due to the direct appearance of the canvases. It grabs the visitors by the throat, so to speak, and makes it impossible for them to pass by indifferently.