After many years spent working in advertising, where he ended up as head of art at Alliance International, Mark Oliver decided that he was a creator rather than a capitalist and became a freelance illustrator. Throughout his time in advertising, he not only learned what art directors and clients need from illustrators, but also enjoyed working with a range of talented artists and admired their work. Occasionally, he’d take the opportunity to illustrate his own ads.

 

For more than 20 years now, he’s been working as a freelance illustrator with commissions from some of the world’s biggest brands and the top names in publishing. Now settled in Worthing on the South Coast, he continues to develop his style and relishes new projects. In addition to his distinctive illustration work, he enjoys creating Litter Bugs – insects made from found objects. As a consequence, you might find him in a flea market or at a car boot sale looking for items to up cycle.

 

Mark Oliver crafts his "Litter Bugs" from trash and found objects. Each incredible insect is named after the materials such as the Chart Beetle or Lamp Fly. Mounted like specimens of real bugs, they are labeled and frozen in their frames, bearing small paper labels with their whimsical classifications.

​

Designed to blend in with urban landscapes, Mark Oliver’s Litter Bugs fly on wings of paper, walk with eyeglass arms for legs, and have bodies fashioned from tin, watch parts, and book covers. The collection of fictitious arthropods are cataloged in an imaginary scientific paper called the “Compendium of Carabid and Terrestrial Detritus”. Both paying homage to the pursuit of knowledge through science and the adaptive nature of bugs, Oliver creates beautiful specimens with all of the detail of real beetles and moths.

​

Please contact us on: info@woolffgallery.co.uk with any enquiries regarding Mark Oliver's artwork