ln the Spirit of Southwestern Art: A Collector’s View of Olin West
The arts of the Southwest have roots sunk deep in the earth as well as history and a blend of cultures, Native American, Spanish, Mexican and Anglo.
Before paved highways subdivided this desert land master artists were quietly at work in tune with the cycle of seasons. Olin B. West is a modern practitioner of that ancient tradition frothiest Mud Mountain studio at Truth or consequences, New Mexico.
This land is rightly called, “The Land of Enchantment”, for to live among its arid vistas is to discovers way of seeing. Live here long enough and you’ll begin to feel your heart sync with the timeless round of birth and death and rebirth. Here is truth as uncompromising as the blustery March winds, or as gentle and constant as an old woman grinding corn. Olin West encompasses these mysteries in his deceptively simple “Timescapes”, as he refers to his paintings. Clean lines, hard, geometric shapes stripped of distracting details, the subtlety of light and shadows, quietly inviting you the viewer to step in and complete the ensemble. Every generation sought some connection with the infinite, in some way to comprehend the language of Eternity.
Religion and Art have been the traditional vehicles of this, search. ln a previous work, “Olin’s Journey”, by Cliff Humphrey, the author speaks of ‘spiritual seekers’ and that ‘source’ beyond mere verbal description. To stand before one of Olin’s paintings is to contemplate your identity as it relates to that primordial reality in which we all have our being. More than mere spectators, Were participants, with the artist, in the quest for universal meaning.
Olin’s expansive vision has been nurtured in the American West from his birth in Paris, Texas, to his boyhood years on the high plains of Wyoming. His wanderings have taken him from Oklahoma to California, from Denver to Santa Fe and eventually to Truth or Consequences where he established his studio.
His formal training includes’ studies at Sheridan Junior College in Wyoming, the Santa Fe School of Fine Art Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, and the Revere Academy-of Jewelry in San Francisco. ln addition, Olin has acquired a significant body of knowledge from the master works of renowned artists housed in museums both here in the United States and in Europe.
Olin’s art has been exhibited at numerous shows and galleries including, Santa Fe East; the Route 66 Show, Gallup, New Mexico, where he was awarded Best of Show; James ReiilLtd., Santa Fe, and X Diamond Ranch in Springer, New Mexico, where he also received a Best of Show. Among those who have collected Olin’s work are the Museum of American Visual Art in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as individual collectors such as Steven Spielberg and Beverly.
