Alex Olson

Telescope . 2013

+ Laura Bartlett Gallery

Alex Olson’s paintings are less decorous than they seem at first glance. In fact, high drama is often hidden behind their moderate scale, formal elegance and sense of containment, which belie how assertively her work wrestles with paint as both material and sign. Marks that seem familiar quickly become unfamiliar; colour functions in surprising ways. Her paintings also suggest a conflicting array of actions that include spreading, pouring, wiping, scraping, abrading and sponging, but also writing or leafing through books.
Kristin M. Jones

Lure . 2013

Proposal 18 . 2013

Articulation . 2009