Sonja Olson

Sonja Olson's work challenges the viewer on multiple levels. She uses vivid colors and images reminiscent of Andy Warhol's silk screens, but while Warhol was interested in celebrity and glamour, Sonja is investigating social issues such as the environment and consumerism. Using text as well as Pop aspects of simple images she draws attention to the sharp divide between American cultural aspirations and reality. In addition, Sonja rethinks the traditional still-life and aims to engage the viewer through the format of the series or repeated image in order to re-contextualize her subject matter. Series work allows her to comment on the repetitiveness of consumer culture as well as explore image influences more thoroughly than she could through a single painting. Her aesthetic strategies of repetition and the reproduction of images draw attention to the interconnection among her chosen images.

Sonja lives and works in Canada and has been invited to participate in the 2009 Florence Biennale.