Robert Olsen's "Elements, Particular" show at G Fine Art closed over the weekend and I had the chance to see it a few weekends back. I'm posting a few images but heavily caveating—though a JPEG is no way to get even a brute impression of what an artist is working at under any circumstances, images of Olsen's work are flatly misleading. I was stunned to see (live), for example, how evident his hand is in his work—not by any articulated brushstroke, but by the plain evidence of the process in his pristine paintings.
No one gets as dark as Olsen does—by dark, I mean he vulcanizes his Mars Black of any impurities. By dint of an intensive layering process Olsen arrives at a pitch black that is aptly (and often) described as creamy, a point from which he rebuilds with the slow revelation of light on surfaces. He rebuilds by applying fades, bleeds, and dollops that allow his brush to redirect light's path back to its source, which he imbues with authentic luminescence. Olsen accurately paints incandescent light, but much more importantly, he paints with mimetic attention to the way that light works: the action of traffic light halos, the pixel blare of LED signs, the bend of light around the objects that house their sources. Olsen is the immediate heir of the mantle left by Dan Flavin; insofar as they both strive to work art out of light, it's prosaic to think twice about the disparity between their media.
There are satisfying narrative components to Olsen's work—nighthawks drifting down lost highways and the like—but I couldn't get past the technical bravado to really appreciate them. West Coast readers should make it a point to see him at Susan Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects in June. More (flatly misleading) images of Olsen's work can be found here.
Robert Olsen, Walk, 2004. Oil on panel, 10.5 X 8.75 inches.
Robert Olsen, Untitled (Green Light), 2004. Oil on panel, 11.5 X 8 inches.
Robert Olsen, Untitled (Red Light), 2004. Oil on panel, 9.4 X 9.8 inches.
I would especially love to see the first painting. I have tried several times in the past few weeks to photograph similar walk signs and streetlights as I drive home at dusk. The luminscense from walk signs, in particular, against a quickly fading gray sky does create a strange, almost other-worldly glow that is a natural draw for anyone who fancies interesting looking objects. I think the attraction for me is that, for a few minutes a day, when everything else looks drab, they just look so different.
Posted by: matty at February 24, 2005 3:01 PM