Lance Austin Olsen

Lance Austin Olsen (born March 21, 1943) is a Canadian painter and sound composer. His work focuses on the dialogue between his abstract paintings, and his parallel work in experimental audio composition. The physicality of his large-scale paintings, often incorporating collaged and repurposed pieces of earlier work, is echoed in his sound compositions, where found pieces of magnetic tape, and conventional objects from the painting studio, are appropriated as sound sources.

Early Life and Education
In 1958, when Olsen was 15 years old and struggling at a London grammar school, his art teacher Jack Elvin asked “…of course you are going to art school, Olsen?”. Elvin arranged an interview between Olsen and a friend who taught at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in Peckham. Armed with “one big watercolour painting, some scribbly drawings, and absolutely no idea what I was doing” Olsen was accepted at one of the finest art schools in the UK.
Camberwell’s staff of working artists included several prominent names from the British art world, including Euan Uglow, Howard Hodgkin, RB Kitaj and, of greatest influence to the young Olsen, Frank Auerbach.
“I would creep into Auerbach’s classes and listen to his talks on painting and drawing and what he thought about a life dedicated to this work. It was amazing to me and set a fire in my mind somewhere.”

Selected International Exhibitions since 2000.
2003 snow:field. Folly Gallery, Lancaster, UK
Olympia Experimental Music Festival. live performance
2007 no(h) movement: audio video projection Syracuse. New York
geophono box audio installation with 29 international audio artists
aroundthecoyote Gallery. Chicago IL.
2012 Floodline: installation with 14 performances. Lance Olsen and Jamie Drouin. RAW festival Portland, Oregon.
Seattle improv festival. Performing as DOR (drouin/olsen/Ruhlman) improv trio.
2013 Casa del Tunel. Production residency in Tijuana Mexico.
Included exhibition of 31 paintings produced, live audio performances with the Tijuana artist ROBERTO ROMERO-MOLINA, Cd release ONOMATAPAEIA. On label Casa Del Tunel (Mexico)
2013. WANDELWEISER UND SO WEITER.
CDOR (Cole, Drouin, Olsen and Ruhlmann) Recordings of scores by Jason Brogan and Stephan Thut from the Wandelweiser collective of composers, Berlin. 6 CD Box set released by Another Timbre record label, UK.
2015: CUBA BIENNIAL. Installation and performances as NOEMA.

Selected Solo Exhibitions since 2000.
2000-2006
The October Project. Open Space Gallery, Victoria, B.C.
Bumper Crop, Survey of Victoria Art. Victoria. B.C.
Large Paintings and Engrav...