Olie Sylvester studied painting and earned a B.F.A. in graphic design at the Savannah College of Art and Design. His work has been featured in solo and group shows and in juried exhibitions. He lives in Auburn, Georgia, and creates daily.
1. Abstraction of form is one way I work. I begin with a recognizable form and work to change it from a basic, recognizable subject to a hint of that initial reality. The end result is not something I plan as much as it is a happening of loose directives arriving at a creation that, to the viewer, has a sense of the original form, but now, in the end, a new beast. This new rendering offers up an image reality based on a recognizable form that is, a revised form pulled through a lens built from chance and instinct.
2. Automatism for me is part science, part art, and very dear to my heart. I keep my personal wants and desires in check as I allow the picture plane to grow with line, form, and color. As a practitioner of this method for many years, I’m more of a conduit to happening than I am a director of technique when working in this mode. This form of creation takes the unmeant and declares it worthy. This is my primary mode of creation.
3. Found object sculpture takes the discarded and carves a space for it as a wanted thing in the world. From detritus to desired, these sculptures bring life to the discarded bits and pieces of the world around us, forever transforming them from unwanted to meaningful.
