About Me

I'm a working artist who calls Seattle my home. After years of living in various places both in the US and abroad, I settled in Seattle in 1986.
Artistic exploration has been in my family for three generations. My grandfather was a portrait and WWII photographer and my mother is an avid writer and artist. Her encouragement was instrumental in my decision to pursue a career in art.

At age nineteen I enrolled in the School of Visual Concepts (Seattle, WA) studied drawing and painting from working professional artists and co-founder Cherry Brown. Although trained in various styles of design, drawing and painting, I arrived at my current style after years of experimentation.

Olson currently paints full time in his home studio and shows at various venues and galleries in the Northwest.

Statement

Using metaphor and symbolism, I illustrate my cultural commentary of a world turned upside down. Surreal, dark and scary; unknown events lurk around every corner. Mystery and wonder abound to tell a story whose ending may never be known.

The use of children in my work represents innocence, a young person exposed to the frightening realities of the world. They often dress in costume as a futile attempt at protection in perilous situations. These are just a few themes used as the basis for his paintings.

My art reflects this idea by creating imaginary worlds occupied with children in costumes, animals acting like humans, and alien creatures in settings that often mirror our own. I like for people to look further than the surface of the painting, to see the subtle meaning behind the imagery and to come to their own conclusions.