Work samples

  • Pocket
    Pocket
    Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 in.
  • Minus Cloud
    Minus Cloud
    acrylic on panel, 14 x 11 in.
  • The Ethers
    The Ethers
    acrylic on canvas, 38 x 36 in.
  • Ripple
    Ripple
    Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 in.

About Janet

Baltimore City
Using a personal language of shape and color, Janet Olney reframes the familiar to reveal an alternate world populated with things that defy naming. Her paintings and installations investigate the realm of uncertainty that lies just outside our awareness: a peripheral world straddling analog and digital spaces.
 
Originally from Boston, MA, Janet received her BFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art and her MFA from the Hoffberger School of Painting (MICA). She is… more

And Other Dreams

Janet Olney’s bold, new paintings reframe the familiar and allude to experiences that lie just outside of our awareness. In this peripheral world, the mysterious intertwines with the known through spatial relationships, the play of light, and the connection of gesture to form. Spatial puzzles beckon to be deciphered while challenging our perception of the world. Olney invites the viewer to entertain the inexplicable and explore the facets of humanity through abstraction.
  • Pocket
    Pocket
    Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 in.
  • Mirror
    Mirror
    Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 in.
  • Ripple
    Ripple
    Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 in.
  • Polygon
    Polygon
    Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 in.
  • Minus Cloud
    Minus Cloud
    acrylic on panel, 14 x 11 in.
  • Fantom
    Fantom
    Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 in.
  • Link
    Link
    Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 in.
  • Verifiable
    Verifiable
    acrylic on panel, 14 x 11 in.
  • Proof of Grid
    Proof of Grid
    acrylic on panel, 14 x 11 in.
  • The Ethers
    The Ethers
    acrylic on canvas, 38 x 36 in.

Parallax

Parallax
Mixed Media Installation,
MICA Curated Faculty Exhibition, it can begin with clouds, 2019
Curated by John Ros
  • Parallax 1
    Parallax 1
    Parallax, Mixed Media Installation, 2019
  • IMG_0140.jpg
    IMG_0140.jpg
  • IMG_5769.jpg
    IMG_5769.jpg
  • IMG_0114.jpg
    IMG_0114.jpg
  • IMG_0095.jpg
    IMG_0095.jpg
  • IMG_5765.jpg
    IMG_5765.jpg
  • Parallax
    Parallax
  • IMG_0131.jpg
    IMG_0131.jpg

Absence/Presence

ICA Baltimore, Solo Exhibition, 2019
Absence/Presence is a new body of work that explores absence as a presence and a sensation connected to spatial memory. Through a series of drawings, paintings, and digitally fabricated objects, Janet Olney asks viewers to navigate the ambiguity of the seen and unseen while grappling with the fleeting nature of perception. Using a language of abstraction and gesture, Olney remixes the various components to reflect on existence and the passage of time.
  • Absence/Presence (Installation shot #3)
    Absence/Presence (Installation shot #3)
  • ICA_install_01.jpg
    ICA_install_01.jpg
  • Absence/Presence (Installation shot 4)
    Absence/Presence (Installation shot 4)
  • Absence/Presence 2 (Installation shot)
    Absence/Presence 2 (Installation shot)
  • Absence/Presence (installation shot)
    Absence/Presence (installation shot)
  • Absence/Presence (Installation shot 5)
    Absence/Presence (Installation shot 5)
  • ICA_install_02.jpg
    ICA_install_02.jpg
  • Absence/Presence (installation shot)
    Absence/Presence (installation shot)
  • Absence/Presence Drawing I
    Absence/Presence Drawing I
  • Absence/Presence Drawing II
    Absence/Presence Drawing II

The Persistance of Shape

The Persistence of Shape,
Lightwell Gallery, University of Oklahoma

A growing number of physicists believe that reality is energy and exists only because human consciousness wills it to exist. When coping with this different definition of existence, we are confronted with the unreliably of perception. Our understanding of the surrounding world is skewed by our personal experience. The Persistence of Shape explores a realm of uncertainty that lies just outside our awareness and presents an alternative narrative to that of everyday life.
 
Through paintings and objects, this work presents unfamiliar spatial relationships and inspires moments of recognition that what we see may not be true. Using a personal language of shape and color, I reframe the familiar and reveal a world populated with things that defy naming. Within my invented spaces, shapes persist. Gesture becomes form, and forms are both planar and dimensional, blurring the lines between illusion, flatness, and object.
 
When we question what we believe to be true, assumptions are stripped away. There is the opportunity to understand the world through a new lens -- the experiences of others different from ourselves.

  • The Persistence of Shape
    The Persistence of Shape
  • The Persistence of Shape 2
    The Persistence of Shape 2
  • The Persistence of Shape 3
    The Persistence of Shape 3
  • The Persistence of Shape 4
    The Persistence of Shape 4
  • IMG_4246.jpg
    IMG_4246.jpg
  • IMG_4140.jpg
    IMG_4140.jpg
  • IMG_4251.JPG
    IMG_4251.JPG

Recent Paintings

  • Known/Unknown (from above)
    Known/Unknown (from above)
    Known/Unknown (from above), acrylic on panel, 23.5 x 17.75 in., 2019
  • Cuts Like a Knife
    Cuts Like a Knife
    acrylic on panel 9x12 in.
  • Polyester Bacon
    Polyester Bacon
    acrylic on panel, 23.5 x 17.75 in., 2019
  • Flux Mux
    Flux Mux
    acrylic on panel, 23.5 x 17.75 in., 2019
  • Inverness Cape
    Inverness Cape
    Acrylic on canvas 14 x18 in
  • Happenstance II
    Happenstance II
    Mixed media on paper
  • The Week's End
    The Week's End
    acrylic and gouache on panel 20" x 16"
  • The Skeptic's Monocle
    The Skeptic's Monocle

If x, Then y

Visarts in Rockville, December 2017 

From the press release: In this body of work, Janet Olney applies conditional statements and logic to perceptual events. The paintings propose if-then statements and offer a conclusion that is open to inference. This series is based on two-value truth tables that Olney constructs using shapes. By building logical statements of visual forms, her tables show how the truth or falsity of a visual expression ultimately depends on the truth or falsity of its components. If the premise of abstract forms is true, then the painting must also be considered valid. Each painting considers the visual values and draws a conclusion about the realm in which they exist.

  • If x, Then y (Install)
    If x, Then y (Install)
    Installation view of exhibition at Visarts, Rockville, MD. Image credit: Nancy Daly
  • A Piece of Tomorrow
    A Piece of Tomorrow
    Acrylic and gouache on panel, 43 x 35 in., 2017
  • Compress
    Compress
    Acrylic and gouache on panel, 18 x 18 in., 2017
  • If x, Then Why?
    If x, Then Why?
    Acrylic on panel, 28 x 24 in., 2017
  • True Fiction
    True Fiction
    Acrylic and gouache on panel, 43 x 35 in., 2017
  • Low Frequency
    Low Frequency
    Acrylic and gouache on panel, 43 x 35 in., 2017
  • Liminal Space
    Liminal Space
    Acrylic on panel, 24 x 18 in., 2017
  • D.L.O.
    D.L.O.
    Acrylic on panel, 23.5 x 19.5 in., 2017
  • Resemblance Coincidental
    Resemblance Coincidental
    Acrylic on panel, 43 x 35 in., 2017
  • Trapped_Contraption.jpg
    Trapped_Contraption.jpg
    Acrylic on panel, 9 x 12 in., 2016

Installation & Objects

In this body of work, the forms from my painted world enter the physical realm. Painting becomes an expanded field where I explore the relationship between flat and non-flat, object and illusion and the subjectivity of perception.
  • Convergence
    Convergence
    Acrylic paint, CNC and laser cut plywood, Permanent Installation, Facebook Inc., Washington DC, 2018 (image credit: Nancy Daly) The concept of the installation is the play between individuality and collaboration. One view references an interior or an intimate space where people come together, share ideas and innovate. The view on the opposing wall is an infinite, contemplative space -- a place to activate the imagination and recharge as an individual. The trajectory lines of the floor promote connectivity between the areas.
  • Convergence (right side)
    Convergence (right side)
    Acrylic paint, laser and cnc cut plywood, Permanent Installation, Facebook Inc., Washington DC, 2018 (image credit: Nancy Daly)
  • Convergence (left side)
    Convergence (left side)
    Acrylic paint, laser and cnc cut plywood, Permanent Installation, Facebook Inc., Washington DC, 2018 (image credit: Nancy Daly)
  • Convergence (Detail #1)
    Convergence (Detail #1)
    Acrylic paint, laser and cnc cut plywood, Permanent Installation, Facebook Inc., Washington DC, 2018 (image credit: Nancy Daly)
  • Convergence (Detail #2)
    Convergence (Detail #2)
    Acrylic paint, laser and cnc cut plywood, Permanent Installation, Facebook Inc., Washington DC, 2018 (image credit: Nancy Daly)
  • Dialogue I
    Dialogue I
  • Dialogue II
    Dialogue II
    Installation, Acrylic paint and laser cut plywood, Decker Gallery, MICA, 2018
  • Dialogue II (detail)
    Dialogue II (detail)
  • Dialogue III
    Dialogue III
  • DSCF6331b.jpg
    DSCF6331b.jpg

Peripheral Logic

This work explores the fuzzy reality at play in the outlying regions of the periphery. Things in the fringes of our field of vision are flickers of shape and movement. These fleeting glimpses and shadows are incorporated into the narrative of our surroundings. This peripheral information taps into both interpretation and imagination -- what we experience and what we believe we see. 
  • Happenstance.jpg
    Happenstance.jpg
  • Nomadic.jpg
    Nomadic.jpg
  • Stacker
    Stacker
    Acrylic on panel 18x18in
  • Float (July 21)
    Float (July 21)
  • Floater
    Floater
    Acrylic on panel 18 x 14in
  • Untethered.jpg
    Untethered.jpg
  • #007FFF
    #007FFF
    Acrylic on panel 18" x 14"
  • IMG_0056.jpg
    IMG_0056.jpg
  • Finder
    Finder
    acrylic on panel 18” x 13.5”
  • Pyramid (Red Nights)
    Pyramid (Red Nights)
    acrylic and gouache on panel 20" x 16"

Artifacts

This series references painting structures from art history flattened into contemporary space. The imagery is distilled from the daily barrage of visual material, popular iconography, art history, and plays on language. Initial ideas are transformed through sketches and digital media. Artifacts, both historical and digital, build a visual vocabulary of forms that travel into the uncertainty of perception in search of truth.


  • Far Rainbow
    Far Rainbow
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 20in., 2015
  • San Marco III
    San Marco III
    Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 20in., 2015
  • Five O'clock Passage
    Five O'clock Passage
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 20in., 2015
  • San Marco (Waterfall)
    San Marco (Waterfall)
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 20in., 2015
  • San Marco Samurai
    San Marco Samurai
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 20in., 2015

Eden & Beyond

The paintings in this project explore gesture as a mark and as time embedded in the surface. Through masking, layers are obscured and later revealed to form a non-linear progression. The physical intertwining of past and present creates an emotional and contemplative space.


  • Eden III
    Eden III
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 72 in. x 58 in., 2014
  • Eden I
    Eden I
    Oil on canvas, 60 x 48 in., 2014
  • Eden II
    Eden II
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 72 in. x 58 in., 2014
  • Eden IV
    Eden IV
    Oil and acrylic on canvas, 72 in. x 58 in., 2014
  • Installation view - Riggs Gallery
    Installation view - Riggs Gallery
  • Truthsayer
    Truthsayer
    Oil on panel, 9 x 12 in., 2014
  • Loop-de-loop
    Loop-de-loop
    Oil on canvas, 8 x 10 in.
  • Tableau
    Tableau
    Oil on canvas, 12 x 12in., 2014