Olly and Suzi: Arctic, Desert, Ocean, Jungle [Hardcover]

Olly Olly/Suzi (Author), Suzi (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0810942666 | ISBN-13: 978-0810942660 | Publication Date: April 1, 2003

In pursuit of their animal subjects, artists Olly & Suzi start by situating themselves in the subject's natural habitat - the wild. They approach as closely as possible and, working in tandem, quickly capture their prey on paper, using the day's particular combination of paints, brushes, burnt sticks, natural pigments, even blood, and then offer up the finished portrait to be paw-printed, tooth-bitten, or otherwise marked by the animal for authentication. Their collaborators have included anacondas, crocodiles, polar bears and great white sharks. Of course, occasionally a leopard decides to rip apart its own image, or a rhino devours the canvas whole. While their art yields paintings of beauty and power, Olly & Suzi consider it performance-based and site-specific. Sometimes the only thing they come away with from an expedition is their lives. Olly & Suzi's 15 years of adventures in such remote locales as Siberia, the North Pole and the Galapagos Islands fill the pages of this book, accompanied by photographs that document the pair's process.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Our art-making process is concerned with a collaborative, mutual response to nature at its most primitive and wild. We aim to document the passing of animals and habitats that are here now, but may not be for much longer." - Olly & Suzi.

About the Author

Since meeting as art students in 1987, British artists Olly & Suzi have made works together in the wilds of Alaska, the Arctic, the African bush, the Kalahari Desert, the Australian Outback, the Amazon, Borneo, Mongolia, and elsewhere. Olly and Suzi each live with their families in London. Greg Williams is a photographer who has accompanied Olly & Suzi on many trip over the past 10 years. His work also appears regularly in such magazines as Esquire, Paris Match, Stern, The Sunday Times Magazine and Vanity Fair. Clive James has become famous as a poet, critic, novelist, autobiographer, and television performer. Steve Baker is Reader in Contemporary Visual Culture at the University of Central Lancashire in England.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810942666
• ISBN-13: 978-0810942660
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 10.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,429,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars i want to hang out with olly and suzi, June 3, 2003

By 

Matthew Parker (Nashville, Tennessee United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Olly and Suzi: Arctic, Desert, Ocean, Jungle (Hardcover)

Simply put, this is an extraordinary book. A friend gave it to me and I do not know whether it is more a art, travel, nature, wilderness adventure, or photography book, because it defies classification, but in any event, it is a serious page-turner. I dont know where to start...the images from all over the coolest and most exotic places on earth, of some of the funkiest and loveliest paintings ever, are captivating. These guys live most children's dreams, they travel around, hang out with rare species of animals (some dangerous, some not), paint them and then get the animals to interact with the art - so they are at one with nature, creating stunning images and at the same time living at one with nature. A perfect gift for kids, visual artists, performance artists, photographers, or people with a sense of adventure or wanderlust.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Coffee Table Book, June 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Olly and Suzi: Arctic, Desert, Ocean, Jungle (Hardcover)

I have been a fan of Olly and Suzi's work for several years since their exhibit at the Natural History Museum in London. This book provides a tremendous story to accompany the amazing art and photos. Ideal for adventurers, art enthusiasts, and animal lovers. Highly Recommended!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars new ways of seeing, May 31, 2003

By 

"hannaroth" (london, uk United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Olly and Suzi: Arctic, Desert, Ocean, Jungle (Hardcover)

For some time now i have had an idea about what it is Olly and Suzi are trying to do- a sense of their oneness with the natural world but until recently- until the publication of this book and being able to read their first hand accounts of their travels i haddn't been able to articulate exactly what is was about their site specific art that makes it so unique - untill now.
historical context- i have used that term alot in my reviews over the years, an artistic importance- contextulised by time and place. but the notion of a place in history has even greater relevance to olly and suzi's interactions and a more literal relevance to this new way of seeing the natural world. the work they make is in some ways a traditional response to a longstanding problem- a problem of how do contemporary artists represent the animal in a way that is new and alive -so as to eek out the truth about the wild and endangered places- the places where the wild things are.
this problem is simply solved by Olly and Suzi's direct experience out their on the tundra infront of a predator,a landscape and pack -a million miles from the cossited universe of the urban studio and all its negative trappings(working removed and second hand creating works that are devoid of spirit-dead and decaying in a tank of fermaldahide). the work in these pages exudes life. it is alive, bristeling and dangerous- a true confrontation of a mortality certain notible artists working in Britian today would do well to take note of and would be even luckier to emulate.

Olly and Suzi are an important artist- ironically due to a mutual resignation of the self. their collaborative art works and photographic revelations are devoid of brash ego and have taken on a new identity- a third person- a result of two minds that is more alive, more spontaneous and more process driven than the work of a sole artist. they are important in a historical context because their subjects matter is. the creatures and habitats are, to quote olly and suzi- "here now , but may not be for much longer" and because of this stark fact contemporary art needs to take notice of this most noble and deserving subject matter.
olly and suzi's subjects are quite litterally caught in time - a fragile historical momment in raw materials and on paper and film and because they show such a respect a reverance for their subject matter, a love that shines through the pages of this wonderful book i encourage anyone familliar of otherwise with the work of these two artists, to buy it, read it and enjoy it for what it is-a beautiful inspiring body of work dedicated to documenting a changing world through the eyes of two artists working as one- a new way of seeing indeed.