John Olsen Quotes on Art

John Olsen is a famous Australian painter and printmaker. He is best known for his depictions of the Australian landscape and he became the oldest artist to win the Archibald Prize for his self portrait painting in 2005 at the age of 77. Famous John Olsen paintings include “Five Bells”, “Golden summer, Clarendon”, “Summer in the You Beaut Country”, “Spanish Encounter”, “Salute to Five Bells”, “Sydney Sun”, “The People who live on Victoria Street”, “Lily Pond”, “Seafood Paella”, “Journey into Murrumbidgee Country” and “Crab Risotto”.

Mini biography: Born John Henry Olsen on the 21st of January, 1928 in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. His mother was Esma Agnes and his father Henry Olsen. Olsen has been married four times: Mary Flower, Valerie Strong, Noela Hjorth and Katharine Howard. He had three children, including the gallerist Tim Olsen, and two daughters Louis and Jane.

List of Famous John Olsen Art Quotes

Australia is a spot-dot place; the Aborigines see it that way, too. It’s not neatly symmetrical, but gloriously untidily asymmetrical, like a dog’s hind leg. John Olsen

Art is not so much talent as character.. it’s what you are, the qualities of the person. John Olsen

Life is about learning to travel in the valleys as well as the peaks. Stay positive, don’t ever become consumed with revenge or jealousy, learn to turn the pages over and get on with life. John Olsen

The important thing about Paris is not so much that one sees exciting work, but one meets people who feel that art is worth living completely for. This whole atmosphere is very good for work. John Olsen

To be an artist is to be an explorer. John Olsen

Painting is a means of self-enlightenment. John Olsen

I wanted to really come to terms with the experience of a total landscape. Not like there is the foreground, there is the middle distance and there is the horizon. I wanted that overall feeling of travelling over the landscape. There you can see the dry creek beds, the nervous system. Then you begin to somehow see the wholeness, the essential untidiness. John Olsen

I have never painted an abstract painting in my life. John Olsen

There are two types of people in this world – lovers and others, and you know what you can do with the others! John Olsen

Becoming a dealer is a minefield: it requires huge skill and knowledge. I think the best lookers and managers of art are those who’ve spent time in the engine room, and understand the process of how art is made. John Olsen

I think a single sentence by Van Gogh is better than the whole work of all the art critics and art historians put together. John Olsen

Emptiness is as full as fullness. We’ve got the richness of emptiness which for some reason was known as the dead heart… That’s a lie! That’s not true! It’s teeming with life. And this kind of thing is an exciting thing. To be an Australian artist is to be an explorer. John Olsen

I want you to listen to the crows. As the crows are flying over Lake Eyre, they’re really saying, FAAARK! FAAARK! What am I doing here?! John Olsen

Tim tells me his weakest point is that he’s inherited every bit of his father’s sensuality and romanticism. Reckons it gets him into trouble. I tell him, ‘Son, it never got me into any trouble – it was just inconvenience.’ John Olsen

John Olsen Self Portrait Painting

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Related or similar popular artists and celebrities include: Brett Whiteley, Sidney Nolan, Fred Williams and other Famous Australian Painters.