09/07/2026
Installation views from NUDES by Erik Olson.
Bringing together 40 oil pastel drawings, NUDES unfolds as a sequence of figures whose poses and individual presence may evoke both classical beauty and sculptural monumentality, as well as the visual language of a fashion editorial. At the same time, the works demonstrate a profound engagement with the material qualities of oil pastel and paper—a fragile surface that serves not only as a carrier, but as a space where ideas emerge and take shape.
The drawings preserve the traces of their making: the immediacy of rough, expressive strokes, the trace of the hand, and the marks of the studio itself. Stains, imperfections, and even torn edges of the paper become part of the work, allowing the process of creation to remain visible. Through a radical reduction of the figure to form, colour, and gesture, Olson reveals a raw yet pure quality—an existential dimension in which each image becomes less a depiction than a fundamental expression of being.
On view through July 25, 2026.
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NUDES was developed over several years, beginning during Erik Olson’s time as a guest student in Peter Doig’s class at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 2014–2015. The series reflects an ongoing exploration of the possibilities of oil pastel, drawing, and the figure.
Erik Olson (b. 1982, Canada) is known for his exploratory approach to art. Born in Calgary, Olson graduated from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver in 2007 and later attended the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 2014–2015. His work has been exhibited across Canada, the United States, and Europe, including presentations at Contemporary Calgary and the Glenbow Museum, and is included in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Alberta, the Royal Bank of Canada, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, and the Ivey Business School.
Photography: Naima Selck
