Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects is pleased to show new paintings by Robert Olsen.

In his third solo exhibition at the gallery, Olsen continues his exploration of common urban fixtures onto which he projects his dense and richly colored palette. In this exhibition Olsen shows eight paintings of gasoline pumps, the total amount of pumps from a local gas station.

“I think of the pumps as the visible part of an underground system, not unlike crap grass or other rhizome, complete with roots (pipes) and nods (storage tanks). It is important to me to cue the relative position of each pump to further expose their connectedness. Where what is below ground remains hidden, the pumps define the total space occupied. The title of the show, C6H6 refers to the chemical description for Benzene, a combustible component of the various formulas of gasoline.”

Robert Olsen received his MFA in 2002 at the University of California, Los Angeles. His work has been shown in exhibitions at the University Museum of the University of La Verne, the Luckman Fine Art Complex, CalState Los Angeles, and at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas.