Dr Oliver Shaw

Welcome to my world, it gets brighter everyday.

Above from ‘U r Wrong’ in Tokyo, below from Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, and in collector’s homes.

‘Iside Moschella’

Unavailable

Acrylic and Oil on Canvas. 21 x 30cm. This work was made on site in Anafi – a tiny island in the Cycladic group of islands in Greece in late 2024.

‘A Vase in Stone’

Unavailable

Acrylic and Oil on Canvas.
21 x 30cm. This work was made on site in Anafi – a tiny island in the Cycladic group of islands in Greece in late 2024.

‘Her’

Unavailable

Acrylic and Oil on Canvas.
21 x 30cm. his work was made on site in Anafi – a tiny island in the Cycladic group of islands in Greece in late 2024.

‘Sunny’, ‘Reme’ and ‘Poets’

These works were made specifically for Brunswick Street Gallery after I was invited to participate in a group exhibition titled ‘Flourish’, which was reflecting the season of spring. I made these works in my new home studio in St Kilda, gently layering the works over weeks.

‘Reme’

Currently on display at ‘Capers’ in Thornbury, Melbourne, 2025.

Acrylic, Etching Ink and Oil Pastel on Canvas. 90 x 90 CM.

‘Enlightenment’

Available

Chalk on Heavy Duty Art Paper. 30 x 42 CM. This work was made in my studio after reading too much Western philosophy.

‘The Blue Painting‘

Unavailable

Acrylic on Canvas. 1.5 x 3 METRES.

This work has many layers, made slowly overtime in my new studio. It is quite something to behold.

‘Sunny’

Currently on display at ‘Capers’ in Thornbury, Melbourne, 2025.

Acrylic, Etching Ink and Oil Pastel on Canvas. 90 x 60 CM.

‘Self Change is Hard but Good‘

Available

Chalk on Heavy Duty Art Paper. 30 x 42 CM. This work was made in my studio after struggling with interpersonal relationships.

‘Stay open, open, open’

Available

Acrylic and Spray Paint on Canvas. 90 x 60 CM. Framed at a Boutique Framer.

A stunning work, which I spray painted over with the words ‘This is nice’.

‘Poets’

Currently on display at ‘Capers’ in Thornbury, Melbourne, 2025.

Acrylic, Etching Ink and Oil Pastel on Canvas. 90 x 60 CM.

‘Self Portrait Black & White‘

Available

Acrylic on Heavy Duty Art Paper. This work was made in my studio in a very immediate way after reading too much Zen philosophy.

‘After Reading Banana Yoshimoto‘

Unavailable

Oil Stick on Art Paper. A4.

It’s all in the title.

‘RayMan’

Currently on display at ‘Capers’ in Thornbury, Melbourne, 2025.

Acrylic and Etching Ink on Raw Canvas. 60 x 60 CM.

‘I Chose You (A Fallacy)’

Available

Acrylic on Canvas.

This work was part of a small solo exhibition in Fitzroy in Melbourne at the no-longer second Old Bar.

‘Your Child Could Have Painted This (But They Didn’t)‘

Unavailable

Acrylic on Canvas. 120 x 60 CM.

A very playful and silly work.

If you’re interested in any ‘available’ works of would like a commission, please put the details below:

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Artist Statement

My painting style has (and will always be) developed over my life. Since my very first art class when I was seven years old where I drew an abstract house in chalk, I have been in love with the process of art. It is the process itself that interests me most. These days I layer the works up and up until I get to a point where I think, ‘okay, that might be it, I like it and it’s time to stop’. In the end, I try to think of the viewer as someone not myself and finish a work when I imagine it might be appealing to that person. Each work can sometimes go through hundreds of layers, sometimes less. I think of painting in terms of ‘metonymy’ as Denise Green (an Australian artist and art theorist living in New York) says, in her work Metonymy in Contemporary Art: A New Paradigm, ‘the inner spiritual becomes the outer material through paint’. There is a-lot of my inner self in my paintings, layering this up is a process of playing with the marks that form, transforming them into something that might make sense, through shape and colour, and, often words – I love the playfulness of words as visual symbols, reflecting my studies in writing.

Oliver Shaw, 2025.

List of previous (because the list of what’s to come wouldn’t fit on this page) exhibitions & performances:

Paintings for ‘Centrepiece’ a group exhibition at Brunswick Street Gallery,

Melbourne: 5 December – 20 December 2024.

Paintings for ‘Flourish’ a group exhibition at Brunswick Street Gallery,

Melbourne: 24 October – 10 November 2024.

‘Chair’ a new performance work by Oliver Shaw premiered at Temperance Hall

in Melbourne, April 2024 .

‘U R Wrong’ a collaborative exhibition of paintings and photography by Oliver

Shaw and Woody Gooch at Diginner Gallery in Tokyo, February 2024.

‘Puurfect a solo exhibition of paintings by Oliver Shaw at Jack Jack Store in

Newcastle, Australia, 2023.

‘Unsettling’ is a solo exhibition of paintings (and some ceramics) by Oliver

Shaw at Brunswick Street Gallery, December 2022.

‘Rayman and the face of Expressionism’ a duo show of paintings by Oliver

Shaw and Jack McCullagh at Satellite Gallery, Melbourne, 2019.

‘The Colour Blue is Yellow’ a play that I wrote and directed premiered at The

National Institute of Art in 2018 in Sydney.

‘I’ a play I wrote and produced was performed by me to sell-out audiences as

part of La Mama Theatre’s 2015 season, Melbourne.

I have made various painting works for commission for private owners.

My artwork is currently permanently available through the renowned Brunswick

Street Gallery Stockroom in Melbourne.