Eric Olivo is a Textile Artist — born in Dallas, Texas in 1994. He started studying Fashion Design at the University in North Texas (UNT) in 2012, and in 2015 Olivo switched his major to Studio Art with a Concentration in Fibers.
As an undergrad student at UNT, Olivo’s favorite processes included the color separation screen-printing technique and the Theo Moorman weaving technique. He developed a technique inspired by the Theo Moorman technique in which he used spliced artwork on paper and used the strips of paper as supplemental wefts. Olivo also designed and constructed his own garments in which he also designed the prints for the fabrics. The images in his work reflect his experiences with synesthesia, which is a neurological condition in which the senses overlap. For example: in the way he experiences music, each particular sound or instrument has a particular color, shape, and texture sometimes even a flavor.
In his most recent work, Olivo makes a commentary on medium, specifically on textile media and textile art. Olivo recognizes that textile arts are commonly known as a craft, vary in material and processes, and they can take three-dimensional forms and become sculptural work. In St. Veronica Selling Merch at the Crucifixion, he treats the wool fabric and lining from a men’s suit and denies its once sculptural form, by “purifying” the fabric in adherence to Ad Reinhart’s 12 Rules for Pure Art. Monument is the beginning of the exploration of the flatness of paint in combination with the three-dimensionality that fabric offers to art.