BIO
Aaron Olson-Reiners (he/him) is an artist from Minnesota currently based in Cartagena, Colombia. He explores perception and identity through painting, drawing, and sculpture in pursuit of greater personal awareness. Olson-Reiners creates abstract imagery through a responsive, improvisational process to better understand himself, his connection to other people, and his social context.
Olson-Reiners received a BA from Saint Olaf College and an MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He has exhibited at numerous venues including the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Soap Factory, MCAD Gallery, Flaten Art Museum, Northwest Art Center, MacRostie Art Center, Next Door Gallery,
Peach Gallery, Flow Art Space, Whittier Gallery, and Stevens Square Center for the Arts.
STATEMENT
My work explores the relationship between artistic creation and the self. For me, making art is an expression of the search for personal meaning and authenticity. Although the creative process frequently raises more questions than answers, it offers greater self-awareness and reveals aspects of who I am. Seeking a clearer sense of self has led me to explore the tension between abstraction and figurative imagery and the tension between improvisation and planned ways of working. My practice is a personally expressive endeavor in which intuition and ambiguity play major roles in a responsive painting process. Through my work, I strive to grasp my shifting, often contradictory, sense of self and better understand my relation to other people.