BE OUT THERE
“You can't help but be in the moment, and everything else seems to fade away.” – Oliver Macdonald Ould
Be Out There is a portrait of illustrator Oliver Macdonald Oulds, showing how living a life by bike unlocks his creative energy. Living and working in London, Oliver uses the bike to find new perspectives for his art and a clarity in his thinking.
Commuting everyday from Stockwell in the south to his studio in Dalston, northeast of the River, his drawings are inspired by what he sees on the street, using the bike to access different corners and communities of London.
“My practice overall is to do with the different places that I visit. If I'm going around the city, it'll be something that catches my eye. There's a market outside my studio, and a lot of the time there's people carrying really big, heavy objects. And it’ll just be something like that. You can draw metaphors out of it if you want, but it’s also just visually striking. So it'll be something like this that makes me stop and try and quickly do a sketch.”
“The best thing about illustration is that it's not tied to representing the world how it actually looks. So you can play with different perspectives within one image, which is something that I think is quite easy to forget. I think what actually excites me most, however, is trying to capture something that is moving or fleeting.”
Growing up, bikes were always a part of life. Oliver’s dad raced cyclocross, and he has photographs of helping clean his dad’s bike, the same one which he now uses to navigate the city.
“The bike has always just sort of been there. I think it gives you a quite good relationship with your pain threshold, realising that you've kind of put yourself in that situation and knowing you'll get through it. And the satisfaction, the view, the fitness, the headspace. If I leave the studio and cycle home, by the time I'm back at the flat, I've forgotten most of the worries of the day.”
That headspace and clarity is something Oliver and millions of other city dwellers need to survive the chaos, and if you ride a bike you’ll know it’s one of the many benefits cycling provides.
“There's this moment on the commute where you cross the Thames over the bridge. It's one of the rare opportunities in London where you get a real, wide horizon. You see more of the open sky and it does this odd thing where I get a big inhale of breath. It works wonders.”
“I think sometimes the best thing with the bike is access to a new area, taking a different route. It feels like it's an ongoing positive practice, it's the closest adults really get to playtime nowadays. As a kid, play is factored into your day and it's just something that is easily overlooked. But I think it's integral to the work-life balance. You need a little bit of that every day. That's what being on the bike allows me.”
Every metropolis offers spaces for inspiration, and Oliver’s practice is partly a product of the environments he discovers by bike. The mental stimulation and mindfulness offered by riding in the city undoubtedly underpins creativity and mental clarity.
“There's a sweet spot on a ride, at the start you're a bit too aware of what you've just left behind, but as you do the repetitive motion of cycling, listening to the chain whirr or focusing on all the different distractions on the street, but trying to also focus. There's so much stimulation going on that you can't help but be in the moment, and everything else seems to fade away. ”
“It creates a rhythm that allows a different way of thinking. But I also quite like the actual physical viewpoint it gives me when I'm going through the city, it gives a different perspective.”
Oliver wears pieces from our new AW24 Performance Sportswear collection. Designed for life on and off the bike, Rapha performance and innovation crafted for the everyday.
