Artist Statement 

Through painting and ceramic sculpture, I explore a realm where imagination rules,  and triumph coexists with failure.  Growing up in poverty and religious cultism, art provided me with escape. Finding solace in the narratives of superheroes, sentient robots, and iconoclasts.  I saw them as symbols of power, hope, and inspiration.  In my work, heroic figures are complex.  Colorful, large-scale paintings depict powerful champions engaged in struggle –  a group of sumo wrestlers spilling outside the ring in a struggle – or or in moments of self doubt and vulnerability –  a superhero breaking apart into an existential scream. 

Similarly, my sculptures of robots encourage the viewer to engage with the idea of what it means to be human, and to think about our relationship with technology.  Working with ceramics and simple electronics, robot forms are given intentional limitations and exaggerated proportions. Animal/human hybrid sculptures encourage us to value our animal and insect relatives and take care of them.

My ceramic works are glazed in colorful, painterly passages and then subjected to multiple firings. Glazes bubble and crack, spilling over the form, indicating both vibrancy and vulnerability.  Metallic parts are finished in gold and copper. 

Inspirations include Greek athletes depicted on ceramic jars, Haniwa figures, and Congo power figures. “Self Building Robot” is a direct response to the Greek sculpture “Apoxyomenos.” In this work, I delve into the profound significance that superheroes hold in our collective imagination and their ability to transcend the ordinary, tapping into the universal human desire for strength, hope, and the power to overcome adversity.

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Jade Olson is a painter and sculptor. She worked in the field of law in New York for 20 years and created art as a self-taught artist during that time. Eventually her passion for art moved her to change her career and attend art school. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics and Painting from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Olson lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.

Representation:

Kingston Gallery, Associate Member