We recently connected with Piper Olivas and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Piper thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

The inconsistency within the creative industry has definitely forced me to put aside my original hopes of becoming an Artist in order to earn a real living. Luckily, I’ve managed to stay within the art field – working for Art dealers and Art Galleries through the years. At first I navigated the business side of the art world as a necessity, now I’ve grown to love it as much as I love the creative side.

In College I studied Photography and Critical writing, hoping to find Gallery representation right after graduation and keep writing. I like to think that I’m playing the “long game” as generally in the art world it takes years to build up relationships and reputation in order to make real money from your art. When you are in the beginning of your career, it’s easy to give up when you aren’t making money like you wanted. I remind myself that most people in the art world struggle at one point or another.

I make a full-time living now working as the Curator and Artist Liaison for iONi, a new art platform created by my good friend Blaise Patrick. I’m also working for Lisson Gallery, we just opened a new location in Los Angeles which is where I spend most of my time these days.

The best thing you can do for yourself if you need to make money is to find a career adjacent to what you love, that way you can pull inspiration from it. I might not spend all my working hours making my own artwork, but I’m around incredible and inspiring artists and art all day. It’s a win-win.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As mentioned, I went to art school, it was both encouraging and disheartening. I loved the people I met and also I got to try out tons of new mediums that I never even knew about. The disheartening experience was post graduation, as myself and most of my peers realized we needed to actually make money somehow. Lots of people I knew moved back home or ended up giving up art completely. It’s expensive to be in California. Also, I graduated at the start of the covid pandemic, so, I didn’t even get a ceremony or to have my senior thesis exhibition.

I traditionally shoot photography (medium format and 35mm) but right now I’m transitioning to Super 8 film. I needed to take a break from what I was doing, because I’ve been struggling to find new ideas. Making short films (like 10 seconds to three minutes) has really brought my creative side back to life. Plus it forces me to think more about movement and composition.

I’m hoping to debut my new Super 8 series soon. I’m also working on a book, which is a longer project but will contain stills from my footage. Hopefully before the end of the year!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Yeah, I’m a huge reader and book lover. I used to work for Erik Heywood (Book/Shop) who definitely showed me and introduced me to wonderful books and literature. My twin brother, Ogden is really into books too and always gives me amazing recommendations.

The following books are crucial to me and I constantly return to them for inspiration:

-Donald Judd Writings
-Overcoming the Problematics of Art / The Writings of Yves Klein
-Last Chance for Eden, Christopher Knight
-Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light, Peter Schjeldahl
-Writings on Art, Robert Storr
-I Paint What I Want to See, Philip Guston
-Slow days, fast company, Eve Babitz

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

It might seem unrelated, but my ultimate mission is to just be happy. I don’t actually care all that much anymore about “making it big” or being rich or “famous.” When you live in LA, you start to realize behind the whole outer facade, everyone has their own struggles. There is no perfect version of life. I just want to wake up and be happy for what I have currently, not what I want or who I want to be.

The mission is to be content!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://piperolivas.com/
• Instagram: @______piper
• Other: https://www.lissongallery.com/ https://www.ioni.io/

Image Credits
Portrait of Piper by Cannon Dill All original photographs by Piper Olivas and 2 images of Super 8 stills from movie.