Charles Olsen's Page

Website

www.charlesolsen.es

Relationship status

in a relationship

College / University

Fine Art BA(Hons) at Middlesex University (1991-1994)

Member type

Artist, Other

If you're an artist, what kind of art do you make?

Drawing, Painting, Photography

I am...

troubled because I've hardly painted this year despite winning second prize in the Saatchi Showdown with 'La Sundari'. I have created 2 spaces: Artistas de España and Aotearoa Artists and am in the process of stiring things up.

About my artwork

I have always done what I feel like, whether it be climbing trees, making cardboard models, sketching, writing, taking photographs, creating music, cooking. I guess I search for a feeling of belonging in myself, of connections to the world around me. I prefer to go for a walk, to have coffee with friends, to read other's ideas, to study something in detail, than to sit alone with ideas of art and to justify my painting. Painting is unexpected. It expresses an absorbed and lived in world though unconsciously. The final painting is a pause between moments of living, a meditation on those moments.

Artists I like

I came to Madrid because of Velásquez and Goya. But really at the moment I'm drawn to, and inspired by, people I know: the wood pieces and drawings of Rupert Hughes, London; the graffiti of Ignacio LlucH, Benicarlo; Valentina Bizzarro, Napoli (sometimes one painting says more than a whole gallery of work); the fotos of Rocksusto, Minnesota and Jorgenn, Madrid.

Interests

Apart from painting I also came to Spain because I play flamenco guitar and have been studying here 3 years with gypsy maestro El Entri in the flamenco academy Amor de Dios, Madrid. I've been fortunate to have painted portraits of him and his son, Jesús de Rosario, in return for classes.

My artreview.com URL:
http://www.artreview.com/profile/CharlesOlsen
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