Chuck Olson

As artists often work in isolation, the Covid crisis demanded that as a requirement- an uninvited partner to the creative work. Its imposed solitude made for a more monastic studio experience without the foreseeable promise of a public presentation. It set the challenge of new definitions for the life now lived in searching for relevant images that codified the experience. 

The paintings center on a metaphor employing two designs in the image’s initial construction. One is the comic book (mass audience) which represents the social car crash”of emotion, ambition, relationships, violence, and dreams. It is from this cultural wreckage that one attempts to create one’s own structure for the sake of dignity, purpose, and strength. The canvas is covered in a comic book collage upon which a sculptural collaged form is built using different materials. Upon this surface the painting is made, often completely covering all collage materials. There is contrast in color, form, textures, shape, and surface as these two ideas collide. The pandemic placed a light on the ideas of mass audience vs the solitary individual. These paintings, I believe, reflect my deliberation on that dynamic hopefully offering new strength and new beauty.