Proximity: Stan Olthuis

About THE ARTIST

I am a first-generation Dutch-Canadian visual artist currently based in Peterborough, Ontario. My work bears an ongoing curiosity with contrasting relationships as are played out in the theatre of the world around us. It is informed in part by the study of the subtle energy and geometric patterns that are scientifically considered to be the building blocks of the material universe. This includes ancient sacred geometry, quantum theory and the intersection of science and metaphysics. Spatial tension and interaction of shapes are often presented through interactive constructions playfully executed with a colour-palette absorbed from my years living in Mexico. The love of form, shape and texture are often related through wood, rock, steel and found objects that are managed with fire and force into what I refer to as ‘elemental transformation’.  My formal art education started in Chicago at a liberal arts college with Henk Krijger, a celebrated master printmaker, type designer, painter and sculptor from the Netherlands. Other early influences began diversely with Salvador Dali, Willem de Kooning, Claes Oldenburg and Robert Rauschenberg. I studied at the Ontario College of Art (OCAD) with practicing abstract expressionists and conceptual artists through many forms of expression and received my degree in the Experimental Arts program. Consequently I find it natural and meaningful to apply any of multiple skill sets and artistic disciplines along with materials knowledge to explore new concepts and unique solutions. I continue to expand my interest, repertoire of materials and multi-disciplinary output in addressing our relationship to one another and the world around us.

I am currently represented by Gagné Contemporary, Toronto and New York and have selected works at the Art Gallery of Ontario.