Comedy, history and traditional portraiture combine in Oliver Osborne's exhibitions in London and New York

‘There is a common thing in my work, where I find things that are nameable, and then they sort of collapse in on themselves,’ says painter Oliver Osborne, who is uniting eclectic facets from his oeuvre in exhibition, Ooh! ‘The slowness of painting means they stop being about the subject, and I’m interested in the moment it starts to unravel – it’s really about how you bring two things together.’

Edinburgh-born, Berlin-based artist Osborne is fascinated with the layers of meaning that encompass a painting, particularly in their relationship to the passing of time, seen most significantly in new portraits of his three sons. In current exhibitions at Union Pacific, London, and at Francis Irv, New York, Osborne draws on historical art references to create contemporary portraits, in a consideration of what preserving these moments of youth means in the digital age.

Patience is key for Osborne, who cites repetition as an important aspect in his works. ‘It became quite a good way to just keep working. If you’re trying to do something, by coming back to the same things, you’re standing still to move forwards, and you inevitably get some sort of shift. But there’s also a bigger thought going on, which is quite analogous to the experience of digital life, where repetition, circulation and a sort of dislocation is more what it's like to be online, and the way images behave there.’

Osborne combines these considerations of youth and time alongside more comic works. Ooh, the exhibition takes its name from Osborne’s early works which consider comedy’s place in art, seeking meaning in both the role of text itself, and also the inflection of words. Depending how you say it, ooh! is ripe with possible meanings, riding the wave from teasing to naughty, shocked or offended.

In New York, Osborne includes more textural plays, Comic Sans referring to the typeface with an unserious reputation. In his work of the same name, Osborne juxtaposes the comedy of the font against the rich yellow loved by the Old Masters.

‘We're not discreet individuals,’ Osborne adds. ‘It's okay to be the artist who's interested in different kinds of language.’

Oliver Osborne, ‘Ooh!’ is at Union Pacific, London until 31 May 2025. ‘Comic Sans’ is at Francis Irv, New York, until 14 June 2025