Using common materials and found imagery, his work explores such themes as American transcendentalism, music, and cosmology.

Other artists featured alongside Oliver were David Hammons, Hank Willis Thomas, Radcliffe Bailey and Kiki Smith.

[8] Oliver's work was shown for only one hour nightly during the run of Canicular at The Print Center in 2011, coinciding with the appearance of the dog star, Sirius.

The show also featured manipulation of sound, heat and light, also evoking astronomy but literally using elements referring to canines, like a dog whistle, thus possibly corralling the star-gazing visitors into controlled environments like a pet and making the actual freedom of space unattainable.

[10] That same year he showed a series called Eclipse at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle at the University of Washington that depicted the top of his head being hit with a jet of steam and was paired with words by astronomers.