BIOGRAPHIE
"Guided by an intuitive sensibility, I explore the creation of beauty through a free and organic creative process. The interplay of light, shapes, textures, and colors blends into harmonious rhythms, punctuated by subtle emotions. The materials I use take shape without fixed rules, leaving room for the unpredictable and for experimentation.
I perceive art as an indivisible whole. Drawing, painting, photography, poetry, performance: each discipline becomes a means of expression free from any stylistic attachment. The mediums interact with one another and complement each other to reveal the essence of my work.
My artistic practice questions the limits of creation, trespassing the boundaries between tool, work and artist. It fuses visual narrative, image words, living brushes, pictorial photography, body music and movement poetry in a quest for unity and transcendence.
I draw my inspiration as much from the depths of my soul as from the artistic movements that have shaped history: classical, figurative, Cubist, Impressionist, Expressionist, abstract, conceptual, minimalist, or contemporary. These influences are reinvented in my multifaceted creations, which constantly reveal new facets of my personality.."
Olivia Appelius
Ma pratique artistique interroge les limites de la création, brouillant les frontières entre l’outil, l’œuvre et l’artiste. Elle fusionne narration visuelle, mots d’images, pinceaux vivants, photographies picturales, musique corporelle et poésie du mouvement dans une quête d’unité et de dépassement.
DEMARCHE ARTISTIQUE
Having grown up in the Basque Country, Olivia Appelius discovered her artistic sensibility at a very young age through painting and drawing, which she taught herself, influenced by her parents, who were painters. She also explored music and dance at the Maurice Ravel Conservatory. These early explorations of movement, form, color, and harmony shaped her perspective and sparked her passion for art in all its forms.
After briefly attending the Ateliers des Beaux Arts in Bordeaux in 2015, it was during a stay in Venice that her artistic path truly took shape. The magic of the place, along with her discovery of the international art scene—particularly through the Biennale—marked a decisive turning point in her journey. This formative experience gave rise to a sensual artistic quest in which the soul, matter, and the relationship between the visible and the invisible invite the viewer to travel, feel, and perceive the world through a gaze imbued with poetry, sensitivity, and a constant search for beauty.
Over the years, Olivia has participated in numerous artist residencies abroad—in Italy, Austria, and Spain—and has fueled her creativity through inspiring cultural journeys. These international experiences have become sources of inspiration and openness that shape her multidisciplinary and poetic approach. Her visual art has been featured in several group exhibitions and artistic events in France and across Europe. At the same time, she creates performances blending reading, improvised dance, and living tableaux, presented notably in cultural venues dedicated to the contemporary arts.
Her photographic series “Shades of Black” has received several distinctions—including an honorable mention at the Moscow International Photo Award in 2020 and 2022, and an honorable mention at the 14th Pollux Prize in Barcelona in 2019—as have her self-portraits, which were awarded a certificate of artistic merit by the Artetra association. These accolades celebrate the uniqueness of his vision and the emotional power of his visual world..
CURICULUM VITAE
EXHIBITIONS
2026
Emergences sensibles, two-artist exhibition, paintings and photographs, La Maison de l'Eau Cultural Center, Allègre-les-Fumades, FR
2025
Chemins interdits, Grenette Hall, Aubenas, France (group exhibition)
2024
Bessèges Photography Festival, photography series, Bessèges, FR
2020
14th Pollux Prize Exhibition, FotoNostrum Gallery, Barcelona, ES
2019
Monochrome, The Glasgow Gallery of Photography, Glasgow, UK (group)
2018
Mare nostrum, photographs, Arsenal of Amalfi, IT (virtual)
Another reality, photographs, works on paper & slideshow, Austrian Forum, Bratislava, SK (duo)
2016
Private reception, Churhaus St. Stephan, Vienna, AT
Wide eye, Suppan Contemporary Gallery, Josephsplatz Off-Space, Vienna, AT (group)
Justmad7, Madrid artfair, ES
2015
Simply O, spazio arterra, Treviso, IT (solo)
PERFORMANCES
2026
Emergences sensibles, performed reading as part of the Emergences Sensibles exhibition, La Maison de l'Eau Cultural Center, Allègre les Fumades, FR
2025
Corps d'Empreinte, Living tableau performance presented as part of the Chemins interdits group exhibition, Grenette Hall, Aubenas, FR
2024
Entre deux Soleils, Living Tableau performance, open stage, municipal hall, Molières, FR
PUBLICATIONS
2026
Midi Libre, article on the exhibition Émergence sensible, La Maison de l’Eau Cultural Center, Allègre-les-Fumades, France
2018
Artetra Magazine, publication of the Mare Nostrum photography project as part of a call for artistic projects
2016
Artes Magazine, publication on the My Mother project, ES
PRICES & REWARDS
22/23
"Luxembourg Art Price", Certificate of artistic merit
20/22
"MIFA, Moscow International Foto Award", honorable mention
2019
"14e prix Pollux", honorable mention
2018
"Premio Antica Republica of Amalfi", Artetra, Certificat of artistic merit
RESIDENCES
Association academia arterra, prices et residences in Autria, Italiy and Spain
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Private collection of Paul Gulda, AT
Museum arterra, AT
Collection Fernando Galan, ES
Collection Museo Carlo Bilotti villa Borghese, IT
EDUCATION
2015 / 2022
Résidences et immersion artistique en Europe (Autriche, Italie, Espagne), échanges avec artistes et commissaires d’exposition
2015
Ateliers of Fine Arts (5 months), Bordeaux, FR
Licence de Musicologie, Information & Communication, Université de Bordeaux, FR
1998/2009
Formation en Musique et Danse, Conservatoire Maurice Ravel, Saint Jean de Luz, FR
Pratique artistique développée depuis l’enfance dans un environnement familial d’artistes peintres, avec une démarche en grande partie autodidacte.