In art school, Louise Olsen kept herself in paints selling colourful t-shirts and resin jewellery at Paddington Markets, heeding the work ethic of her father, the celebrated artist, John Olsen whose creed was: "Be lovers, not others, be givers, not takers, us Olsens are workers."

You don’t get much more Australian than this. Ned Kelly’s girlfriend, riding Phar Lap, which has just deposited a pile of golden nuggets.

Melbourne artist Jacqui Stockdale gets that it’s funny. It’s intended to be.

 But look again, she says.

“I’ve called it Such is Love. She’s a message. I don’t want to use the word powerful. But it’s absurd. Ned Kelly’s absurd. This is summing up Australia.”

Paul Davies is an Australian-born, Los Angeles - based artist whose work is driven by friction between opposing forces of built and natural environments, design and art, abstraction and figuration. These boundaries and relationships are illustrated through Davies' process, which combines painting, stencilling, photography and sculpture. The Golden Days reflects on the connection between Los Angeles, California, and Hill End, NSW, through an exploration of landscape and notions of ‘gold rush’ in the context of historical and present day meaning.

A painting by a celebrated Sydney artist stolen from a Mascot business while the paint was still wet has been recovered.

Refuge in beauty. In its light-filled home on Woollahra’s Jersey Road, Olsen Gallery (together with Communications Collective ) invited friends and artists to come together for a Summer Feast – a celebration of its 2020 program and group show featuring over 50 works from its artist stable.

Geelong Gallery have acquired works by Paul Davies from a series of sunlight photograms made on residency at the Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin Westin Phoenix, Arizona.

A celebrated Sydney artist whose still wet painting was stolen from a business in Mascot last week hopes the thief is caught red-handed.

Painter Laura Jones had just finished an 81 x 61cm oil canvas of Australian native flowers that was to be auctioned for bushfire relief when she took it to a business in Mascot to be photographed ahead of the National Art School's Home: Bushfire Relief Art Auction Fundraiser on Wednesday.

Artist Talk at OLSEN Gallery, Sydney with McLean Edwards 2019
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Artist Talk at OLSEN Gallery, Sydney with Julian Meagher and Tim Olsen
Part 1 | Part 2

John Olsen, Australia’s most revered living artist, unveiled a suite of new works this month at his son’s Olsen Gallery. A formidable presence in the art world for over six decades, Olsen shows little sign of slowing down. Simply titled Recent Works, his new exhibition includes sprawling landscapes, nuanced studies of animal life and intimate paintings based on the artist’s passion for food and cooking. Now 91, Olsen is a painter who has forever changed how Australians see their country and its landscapes. After immersing himself in the art scenes of Paris and Spain, Olsen returned to Australia in 1960 – creating the first of his hugely influential works, based on a unique vision of the outback and its endless flux.

 

In his ninth decade, John Olsen’s legendary lust for life is as obvious as ever and so is his devotion to drawing, a practice that has underpinned his long and distinguished career. What is also evident when talking with Olsen is that his diverse life experiences have informed his approach to art. Memories of tough times during the Depression in the late 1920s, creative battles of a life spent dedicated to art, and the many wonderful people who have shared his world and great places he has visited are all deeply intertwined through his work. He is still looking outward, projecting what he sees and more importantly celebrating life - just as he did as a young boy growing up in Newcastle, discovering a passion for drawing.

Tim Olsen tells us about his father's latest exhibition, and why the 91-year-old Australian artist won't be found on the golf course.
John Olsen in the studio. Photo © Ken Redpath

Revisiting the world of the Budgerigar â?? the subject of her first solo exhibition some nine years ago â?? Leila Jeffreysâ?? High Society includes her signature large format portraits and sees her exploring new territory. 

Stephen Bird's ceramic works feature in 'Horizon - Landscapes, Ceramics and Print' currently showing at Norway's National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design. The exhibition runs from 14 June?2013 to 23 February?2014.
"The exhibition 'Horizon - Landscapes, Ceramics and Print' is a visual narrative, illustrating the journey of landscapes, images and patterns through differing media to their realisation on the blue, black, pink, white tableware of The National Museum's Decorative Arts Collection." - Museum of Decorative Arts and Design

The 25th property in Soho House & Co.’s elaborate portfolio, Soho Warehouse occupies a seven-story building in downtown Los Angeles dating back to 1916.