Alex Olson: Abstract Dissection

Alex Olson, Relay, 2012, oil on linen, 75 x 53 inches (courtesy of the artist an
Alex Olson, Relay, 2012, oil on linen, 75 x 53 inches (courtesy of the artist and Lisa Cooley, New York)

Brian Fee reviews the exhibition Alex Olson: Palmist and Editor at Lisa Cooley Gallery, New York, on view through October 28, 2012.

Fee writes: "I like Olson’s directness with her paintings’ surfaces, like how she squeegee’d broad blood-orange bars across the gauzy, drybrushed grayscale Weave. These measured bands may seem at odds with the lyrical backdrop, like crashing Park Seo-bo‘s austere mechanics with Christopher Wool‘s gritty choreography—yet Olson’s sure hand makes it believable, and the combination works... Olson doesn’t treat her works preciously, but she brings them to the exact stage where we, the viewers, become that palmist and editor to contemplate them further."