ennifer Olson ArtPaintingssmallworks
Jennifer Olson creates highly representational oil and watercolour paintings from her heritage studio in downtown Victoria. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, and has been recognized nationally as a three time recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Grant for figurative artwork. Her work has been featured in Art Avenue Magazine, the Campbell River Mirror and Monday Magazine. She has exhibited throughout BC at the Federation Gallery in Vancouver, the Campbell River Art Gallery, and the Sidney Fine Arts Show. Jennifer is also an accomplished custom picture framer and art instructor with Jennifer Olson Studios in Victoria.
Jennifer Olson’s dramatic architectural paintings represent passages of time, decay and rejuvenation. Beneath the facade of an old building, there are hidden narratives, histories and a wealth of past. Memories, both actual and artificial, are created, revisited and reconstructed. A building is not a static structure, but a living presence that is in constant transition.
Painted in soft focus and meticulous detail, Jennifer’s paintings create an almost photographic permanence. This is in strong contrast to the natural deconstruction process at work. There is a tension between timelessness, the passage of time, fragility, decay and permanence. These paintings exist somewhere between stability and transition.
Layers of paint are peeled away from the paintings’ surfaces, creating holes and abstract spaces. These missing sections mirror the natural transitions of time, and the physical peeling of plaster and brickwork. The aesthetics of decay and the impermanence of human constructions stem from the undeniable power of the natural world.