STAN OLTHUIS
AVAILABLE ARTWORKS
Stan Olthuis is a Canadian mixed-media artist who has been making art his entire life. His work addresses the notion that essential energy exists in and around us, unseen, powerful and beautiful. He works in an abstract expressionist vein using workman’s trowels and house paint on wood or canvas surfaces and often incorporates found materials. This gives the rawness and immediacy he likes.
The Power of Two, seen in this exhibition, is a good example of his new work using abstract shapes to show interaction of energy.
His work is in private and corporate collections in Japan, Mexico, Australia, Norway and the USA.
Stan has spent the last 2 ½ years working from his studio in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and currently from his studio in Toronto.
Education: Ontario College of Art & Design (Graduated with Honourable Mention)
I am a Canadian artist who plays with time, energy, gesture and layers. Some of my current work draws inspiration from the street. I’m fascinated with unexpected beauty that emerges from time’s harsh effects on surfaces. They become worn and weathered, then layered by random human interferences. Evidence of invisible energy that is symbolic of our life experience. In this environment I note the stark contrast created by things as yet untouched, such as the silent, silken evening gowns that glow pure in designer’s shop windows…full of promise.
My work process includes scavenging house paint, street poster remnants – whatever serves my purpose – then introducing these materials to each other on a common plane. I work on wood surfaces that can withstand the execution delivered with tradesmen’s trowels, scrapers, and power tools.
Tapping into the visible and invisible layering of time.
I studied in Chicago with Henk Krijger, a renowned Dutch artist whose delight and mastery in many visual disciplines imbedded a lasting influence. I continued at the Ontario College of Art and Design finding a vibrant art scene, and gratefully studied under many respected working artists: Fred Hagan, Gus Weisman, Nobuo Kubota, Tom Dean, Udo Kasemets and Dan Solomon are a few. Notable was Tom Hodgson, a member of Painters Eleven. Tom’s restless quest for seeing things anew along with his mantra of ‘Art is Process’ has been a valuable guide in my ongoing explorations.
2018 Stripes BG Gallery, Santa Monica, California, May 2018
2018 Evans Contemporary (Star X Gallery) Peterborough, Canada July 2018
2017 Member’s Exhibition of Selected Works’ J.D. Carrier Gallery, Toronto. Nov 8 – Dec 4
2017 ‘Echos of Laughter’, Benitto’s, Puerto Vallarta, México, January
2016 ‘UNFOLDING – REVELATIONS’, Peninsula, Puerto Vallarta, México, Nov
2016 ‘UNFOLDING’, Peninsula, Puerto Vallarta, México, July
2015 ‘UNFOLDING’, Salón Galería Atelier, Guadalajara, México, July 31 to August 20
2014 ‘Rags to Riches’, solo exhibition, Abbozzo Gallery, Toronto, ON
2014 ‘Game’, Ontario Society of Artists 141st Juried Exhibition, John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto. April
2014 ‘OCADU Alumni Juried Exhibition’, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, April
2014 ‘Stan’, Gallery Takechi, Kumamoto-shi, Japan (Solo)
2013 ‘Three Friends, Three Views’, Spazio Dell ‘Arte, Toronto (Trio)
2013 ‘True Nature’, MJG Gallery, Toronto, ON (Duo)
2013 ‘Abstract Implications 3 Part II’, Project Gallery, Toronto, ON
2013 ‘Abstract Implications 3 Part I’, Gallery 1313, Toronto, ON
2013 ‘Canadiana’, Project Gallery, Toronto, ON
2013 ‘Fatal Abstraction’, Project Gallery, Toronto, ON
2013 Project Contemporalis, Ritchies, Toronto, ON
2013 Art With Heart, GAS (Gerard Art Space), Toronto,
2012 ‘Gowns’, Furbo Gallery, Toronto, ON (Solo)
2012 Gowns, Moments Art Gallery, Toronto (Solo)
2011 Invitational Group Show, Loop Gallery, Toronto
1977 Ontario Now 2: A Survey of Contemporary Art, Royal Canadian
Academy of Arts (RCA), Toronto, ON. Juried group exhibition for non-members.
1977 Ontario Now 2: A Survey of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, ON.
(Glen E. Cummings – Curator)
1977 ‘Pigs’, The Artery, Artists Alliance, 24 Ryerson Avenue, Toronto.
Art, Life and the City, by David Ross, August 2013
Catalogues:
‘OCADU Alumni Assoc. Juried Exhibition’ 2014 Exhibition Catalogue
Ontario Now 2: A Survey of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1977 Exhibition Catalogue
Dossier: 351 – ART GALLERY OF HAMILTON
Curator /Author: Cumming, Glen E.
Collation: 32p. 74 Ill, 21 x 24 cm