Behind The Scenes

"Today it is considered highly fashionable to juxtapose Old Masters with contemporary art, but the connections are often too blurred and the results disappointing. This is not the case with [this] work… [the] culture and learning are deeply influenced by the artistic tradition.” 

—Palazzo Strozzi director Arturo Galansino on artist Bill Viola’s “spiritually-inclined” video installations

Neither is it the case with the work of Dana Olson. Set against the backdrop of a mainstream visual culture that largely values notoriety and wealth at the risk of appropriation, Olson’s Truth series conveys piercing authenticity and painstaking creative development because it is the physical manifestation of personal experience without pretense. Seemingly few resources—one artist, one vision, and one divine model—together yield exponential effect across 12 paintings of Jesus, each rendered in a different art historical movement from Baroque to Post-Expressionism. While her technical competency in realism rivals that of renowned 17th-century painters, perhaps Olson’s most admirable skill is the flexibility to explore styles outside her comfort zone and float between them so that monotheism and multiplicity mingle seamlessly.

Truth began with the Baroque movement, a decision inspired by Olson’s intense study of the Patrick Betaudier-founded Atelier Neo Medici technique in southern France. The technique stems from Renaissance-era Flemish and Italian traditions involving multiple layers of thin glaze that cultivate spatial depth and luminosity of color difficult to achieve with the flat application of opaque materials. The former style is popularly associated with religious paintings, which, as a child growing up in the church, Olson remembers to be distant and unnatural. Alternatively, she envisioned her very own Jesus as human, as relatable, and not just a symbol or a character in a fictional story—the Jesus we see now in Olson’s Baroque-style painting. The process of expressing this warm image from her imagination has led to a more intimate relationship with God. Olson admits that it’s not necessarily a universal interpretation or historically accurate representation of God, but it’s hers. 

Olson invites viewers to seek their own paths to God alongside her—paths as diverse as the styles of art through time. Olson continues to discover new beauty where she hasn’t previously spent much time. Her new respect and curiosity for abstract art drive her elevation of all styles to the same plane in Truth. Follow Olson’s pilgrimage to creative and spiritual enlightenment through these movements:

1. Baroque 2. Impressionism 3. Fauvism 4. Cubism 5. Surrealism 6. Abstract 7. Pop Art 8. German Expressionism 9. Post-Expressionism 10. Sculpture 11 &12: Styles forthcoming for the final two portraits

-Elaine Slayton Akin