A young artist has left behind a bittersweet collection of images after his death at 23, says Sarah Mayhew Craddock

Sometimes some things can seem too great for this world; too precious, too perfect, too rare. A 23-year-old, Oxford-born artist and Oxford Brookes University Fine Art graduate, Oliver Wortley was captivated by nature and in awe of its gift.

This thoughtful, intelligent and gifted individual fought manic-depression and, tragically, lost his life to his mental illness on May 2 last year.

Somnium Mundi, from the Latin meaning dream world, is a posthumous exhibition coordinated and curated by friends and family, that showcases work made when Wortley was a student at Oxford Brookes University.

The collection is a demonstration of a young man’s bittersweet oeuvre.

It gently, yet firmly, takes visitors by the hand on a contemplative journey along mountain trails, rivers and coastal paths; the works on display present glimmers and moments caught on film, in sketchbooks and in text.

In land art, as in Oli Wortley’s art, landscape and works of art are inextricably linked. Fascinated by man’s impact on the earth, Wortley once said “To live is to leave traces, figuratively and literally.”

Resonating with the concepts that underpin much land art, namely a protest against perceived artificiality and disposable culture, it’s easy to draw similarities between Wortley’s work and that of Richard Long, particularly Long’s art made by walking in landscapes and the documentary photographs taken en route.

Similarly, the works on display range from a video installation and photography to works on paper and sketchbooks.

Wortley was a politically-motivated individual, who presented man as a curious yet destructive species, whose politics and culture are overshadowed by the mightiness of the natural world.

His close friend and muse, Kate Byard, said: “I think Oli was an amazing artist. He tapped into issues that are imminently important in society, from feminist to environmental issues, all concerns of the contemporary critic.”

The works in this exhibition fall into two categories: Human Works and Nature Works. Many of the pieces were executed en plein air, during his pilgrimages to far flung landscapes that provided inspiration.

Wortley was fascinated by the notion of visiting virgin ground, a landscape being born before his eyes. He sated this curiosity with a trip to Iceland; geograp-hically the world’s youngest country.

Contrastingly, he also went to Berlin and made work inspired by the survival spirit and re-growth that frequently follows man-made destruction.

The exhibition is littered with juxtapositions, just as his life had struggles that can be observed in his art. Born into a supportive family, Wortley struggled to match his Catholic upbringing with his homosexuality, despite seeming to desire a harmony that united every aspect of himself.

However, an interview with fellow Oxford Brookes University fine art graduate Alex Hackett, in 2013, implies Wortley felt a greater affinity with the tangible than the spiritual.

Oxford Mail:
Oliver Wortley

He said: “I want people to be in awe of the earth as a physical being, as mother of everything. Whereas icon painters painted religious figures, this seems misguided and these aren’t real. The earth is real – not God. Earth is God.”

With poignancy, Wortley continued: “I want to explore how human beings relate to the earth as a thing, our relationship to the earth. There’s a verse in the Bible that says, ‘Remember man you are but dust, and unto dust you shall return.’ Reminding people we’re not immortal.”

There are recurring motifs and a great deal of experimentation with adulatory gold. Pivotally, it is the masculine/feminine tension between Wortley’s mountain shape and his sun emblem that unite the works.

Wortley had secured an internship with Oxfordshire Youth on artsXchange, a model of creative empowerment funded by Arts Council England that set out to engage Oxford’s most vulnerable young people.

He was excited by the prospect of enabling them to discover their creative powers and make lasting connections with world class arts and facilities in the community. He had been due to start an MA in social sculpture last September.

Somnium Mundi by Oliver Wortley
Saturday, May 9, to Sunday, May 17, 10am-6pm
HATCH, Little Clarendon Street, Oxford
Donations are being collected for  mental health charity Mind