Olive Athens URBAN STRATA

March 1 – April 12, 2024
Reception: Friday, March 1st from 6:00 – 8:00 PM

Bookstein Projects
39 East 78th Street, 402,
New York, NY 10075.

Mon-Fri, 11 AM – 6 PM and Sat, 12 – 5 PM

Bookstein Projects is pleased to announce an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Olive Ayhens made between 1996 and 2023. This is the artist’s sixth solo show with the gallery.

Ayhens’ work has often focused on the intersection between the man-made and natural world; blending bustling cityscapes with rich vistas to transform familiar locations into dreamlike compositions. Spanning the last twenty-eight years of the artist’s practice, the paintings in this exhibition provide a glimpse into Ayhens’ unique vision of various environments and her ability to emphasize the beauty in the world, in spite of and thanks to its’ flaws.

In Metabolic Metropolis, the artist tackles what she describes as “the aesthetics of pollution.” Within the work, there’s a city that looks to be bound by the forces of nature that enclose it, with sprawling mountains and hills looming overhead and a discolored body of water filling the canvas below. There’s a clear effort to commentate on the effect we as humans have on the environment around us, a point that is only further accentuated by the lines of vehicles driving along the polluted ocean. Yet even when exploring the negative, Ayhens never neglects the good in humans’ relationship with nature. Indeed, the polluted water is not only home to a pair of angelic swans, but it is also painted in warm and vibrant colors that mimic that of an inviting sunset.

Olive Ayhens (b. Oakland, CA) received her BFA and MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. In addition to her extensive exhibition history, Ayhens has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including the Joan Mitchell Grant, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award and Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Individual Support Grant.

More Info:
Bookstein Projects Metabolic Metroplis

Olive Athens Westbeth Artist Page

Home Page image: Olive Athens “Brooklyn Bridge ” watercolor on paper