Oliver Krisch

Sir Oliver Krisch, born in Venezuela in 1977, has been a photographer since a teenager, inspired by his uncle Pablo Krisch, one of Venezuela’s best known industrial photographers. Krisch also studied photography with Luis Brito a renowned Venezuelan photographer winner of the National Photography Prize.

Before moving to California in 2006, he exhibited his work at the National Gallery of Caracas and Museo Mario Abreu in Maracay, and his images were published in significant magazines such as Ocean Drive and Complot. In 2007 Krisch won an honorable mention at the MOLAA Awards, a juried art competition held at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California. The winner piece, Reggaeton (Nuevo Pop Latino), appropriates the style of pop artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein to present a multiple image of a commercial product that contains a commentary on the socio-economical issues that many Latin American immigrants face in the United States.

Krisch’s works are characterized by their irony; he usually plays with the double meaning of objects and words, either in English or Spanish, to create pieces that contain a highly conceptual message. In several of his photographs he also shows a pursue of themes of cultural identity, with a special focus not only in the minorities living in the United States but also in identity issues related to his own Venezuelan heritage, including series of works that deal with santeria (a syncretic religion that fuses catholicism with African believes).

The aesthetics of his works combine classical photographic techniques, in terms of light and composition, with other elements often linked to poor taste; Krisch’s images are usually filled with kitsch elements such as Baroque frames, decorative objects and busy and cheap-looking backdrops. However, in some series he has also shown an interest in experimenting with some characteristics of pop art incorporating loud colors and paneled portraits to his pieces.