2017 Catalogue Archive

Alex Olson’s formally beautiful works incorporate a variety of marks made by tools like trowels, palette knives, window scrapers, and inexpensive brushes. These tools give her work a mechanical surface that appears cool and analytical. In Eclipse, a circular form is visible through three pulled bands of paint, each reminiscent of a different time of day. The dripping edge of the bands (where excess paint is left after being scraped across the canvas) offers a glimpse into the cool, methodical action that generated this meticulous composition. Olson lives and works in Los Angeles, and her work is included in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.