Born in Bez Valley, Johannesburg. An emerging multi-disciplinary artist, self-taught animator and cultural practitioner with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand. De Oliveira began his career as a print-maker, producing screen-prints for a number of South African, Mozambican and Angolan artists. After some time, he became disillusioned with the notion of making other artists work. This sparked his interest in the machine as an assistant, and a subsequent way to free up the role of the technician in artist’s studios.

 

Since founding ‘The Magolide Collective’, with Mzoxolo ‘X’ Mayongo in 2019, De Oliveira has developed an artistic practice of deception. In a fit of creative defiance, De Oliveira turned his gaze toward the cold, mechanical heart of technology. He saw the machine not as a soulless beast but as a liberator, a means to unshackle the artist from the chains of technical drudgery. His fascination with technology, and its ability to make the digital seem physical, has spurred on a practice fixated on dismantling the notions of the master narrative which exists in ‘Western Art’ history, and attempting to eventually make PC generated work audiences won’t be able to distinguish as digital. His practice is centred through the mediums of drawing, video, printmaking, and XR (Extended Reality), as crucial tools of decoloniality.   

 

Through this kaleidoscopic lens, De Oliveira delves into the vibrant Lusophonic communities of his youth, weaving together the metropolitan myths and legends of Johannesburg. His work is a bold attempt to document, record, and challenge the

socio-political quirks and struggles faced by his Luso-African community in the chaotic heart of Johannesburg, South Africa.

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De Oliveira is currently a creative partner with Runway AI, an innovative platform that enables the use of artificial intelligence for video creation and editing.