The Artist

OLAN
In Other's Words

"Vibrantly orbiting poised subjects, drizzled liberally onto canvas or brushed violently colored paint is essential to making art pop. And no one understands the liquid rainbow better than New York City based artist, Olan." - 'You Bring Light In'
by Monica Colbert, NY Arts Magazine

"...the images are as invigorating as an unexpected gust of air cutting through the hot stillness of summer."
Tellers in Tangerine' by Laurel Gross,
The New York Times, July 2003

OLAN
In His Own Words

I create my paintings from my own photographs. They are a combination of my photos hand painted on canvas as well as my own digital art creations.

My art is a visual stimulation to remind people to simply look at one another and see through the layers of a complex personality. In our world today fame and pop stardom are sometimes reduced to '5 seconds of fame'. This book contains my art of so many aspects of New York City subculture, individuals who are not defined by the "norm" so to speak. They are beautifully aberrant and colorful in themselves. My art is simply their reflection.

In some respects we can blame (or thank) the mass media for contributing to a jaded social value of 'been there, done that'. Regardless, my work is an effort to capture an essence within that fleeting context and place it into a perpetual freeze-frame. Why can't a nano-second last forever?
- OLAN 2008