Peter Olson
Flatline
May 16 – July 4, 2026
Opening Reception
May 16, 5 – 7PM
Peter Olson has for the last ten years harmonized photography and ceramics, two mediums that have forced their way into the fine art canon. In doing so, he has drawn upon the 17th century tradition of fired decals and Theodore Colenbrander’s 19th century lidded jars, which were one of the precursors to Modernism as we understand it today. The result, however, is new, different, and all Olson’s.
Bands of imagery spin around the thrown and assembled ceramic garnitures creating a feeling that time is passing, people are revealing themselves, and a story is being told. The meaning is not immediately clear, giving each piece an air of mystery confined within the daily lives of the subjects and Olson’s choice of cultural objects, which form the background patterns for each piece.
Olson’s street photos anchor each piece’s imagery and are held in place by architectural, cultural, and decorative images photographed by him. “There’s nothing on them that hasn’t gone through my camera,” he says of his ceramics. The photo-illustrations circle every centimeter of the ceramics, including the interiors, making it impossible to comprehend any piece quickly. For this reason, Olson calls his pieces “cylindrical worlds.”