Sifting through the immediate debris of the artist’s production apparatuses and common household items, artist Jonathan Olazo resumes his personal inquiry into the intrinsic aspects of ideas and connotations vis-à-vis materials and objects. Engaging the purported holy grail of making a work of art based on found objects and idea-based platforms, Olazo’s hybrid assemblages only must ask: “what lies behind the veil?” Only to find there is nothing there albeit realizing it means everything – it is a sweet spot where the artist finds refuge in telling a point in mind that is more than twice removed. What results are difficult puzzle-like works that want to absolve itself; if not wallow in the “modern guilt” that continues to be a chip on every artist’s shoulder. Pictorial idioms portray images that are nostalgic and autobiographical, seeing themes on family, faith and spirituality and continuing modernity as interconnecting ideals that define Olazo’s professed artistic construct.
