I-6 (detail) by Eric Olson
48in x 48in - Acrylic on Plastic

Eric Olson's Artist Statement:
I am primarily a painter and mixed media artist creating two-dimensional and sculptural work based on the ideas of structure, change, and random influences.

The focus of my work has been the concept that throughout our lives we build, piece by piece, a virtual structure that defines ourselves and upon which we hang our own meaning, a structure built with components such as our heritage, education, personal decisions, careers, relationships, experiences, social networks, geography, personal values, etc. We continue building, altering, and destroying elements of this structure in reaction to continually changing surroundings, influences, and in an attempt to control our lives or shape ourselves into who we ultimately want to be- yet can never fully achieve. Put another way, we are forever changing our own situation in order to gain more satisfaction, to find our ultimate happiness.

In the dot paintings, I use random number tables as a guide to paint shades of color over a carefully mapped out grid pattern on metal, plastic or wood surfaces, exploring the tension and delicate balance between the structure on the world we want and the unavoidably random and constantly shifting environment we live in. These highly textured and mathematically random dot paintings create visual movement and imply discernable patterns that cause the viewer to continually search for what does not exist.