ERIK OLSON -STATEMENT

My interest in the beetle infestations began from a visceral, personal experience. It was that appalling, yet enthralling feeling of seeing a familiar mountain coloured red by the dead pine trees that initially caught my attention. In the fall of 2006 I began meeting with researchers in the field; from U of C professors to Ministry of Forests experts, trying to understand the topic from both an environmental as well as economic perspective. In June of 2007 I began a motorcycle journey that took me through the backcountry roads of Alberta and British Columbia, mapping out the extent of the infestations for myself and meeting locals. Just North of Williams Lake, the epicenter of the issue, I flew a small plane over the High Plateau of central British Columbia. From this height, the significance of the problem is exposed as an almost surreal mosaic of red and grey pine intersected by clear-cuts and the grid lines of plantation trees. 

My paintings are punctuated by a multiplicity of rash, red hatches that overrun the forest space and pictorial field - each image attempts to capture a sense of a problem that can seem beyond comprehension. I use paint loosely, forming constellations of planar forms, these brush strokes collectively weave the industrial and the natural together as a single, interdependent system.

Email: info@summitfineart.com

Telephone: 403.762.4455