In early 2013 artist Charmaine Olivia once again returned to San Francisco to the newly moved and expanded Shooting Gallery (located in the rough and tumble Tenderloin District).
The artist spent over 4 months painting 14-16 hours a day to produce this new body of work entitled “Muses”.
“Muses” takes us through Olivia’s colorful memories of women in alternate realities, as represented through paintings of powerful, beautiful women.
The newly turned 25 year old focuses on stream of consciousness painting, and letting images emerge from her backgrounds as if picking figures from clouds. In all of her works, there is a central female who was chosen by Olivia for “Some emotion that resonated within (the photo) that I wanted to reflect back”.
In all of her works, she searched out women that had a particular aura of softness around their image. From there she went to work deconstructing and rebuilding that women in her own eye, and the letting the “Muse’s” world evolve around it.
The work itself is an explosion of color and imagery, with each painting pulling the viewer in for closer inspection.
This is the artist’s second solo show in two years with Shooting Gallery, which features emerging contemporary, museum-bound artists on a monthly basis. The gallery was created by curator Justin Giarla and has given established big art names such as Shepard Fairey, Ron English, Aaron Nagel, Ferris Plock, Casey Gray, Peter Gronquist and many more their start in San Francisco.
A good portion of the “Muses” collection sold within the first hour of opening night – including a purchase of two works by the recent Grammy Award winning dubstep king Skrillex.
Olivia continues to paint, study new techniques, and produce one of a kind museum grade prints through Patron of the Arts in the Napa Valley of San Francisco. A big believer in providing access to her collectors, Olivia has built up a strong network of international print collectors over the past several years.
For this young artist, she seems to have redefined art for a new generation of fans, followers, and collectors.
- written and photographed by Michael Cuffe for Warholian
To see more work from Charmaine Olivia, visit her official site here: CharmaineOlivia.com
