B. INGRID OLSON

Overview

B. Ingrid Olson, 'Elastic X', 2018-2021 © The Artist

B. Ingrid Olson (b. 1987 in Denver, USA) implements elements of photography, sculpture, and performance in an ongoing exploration of the boundaries between body and space. Within the confines of her studio, she records her body as it moves — shifting in relationship to its surroundings. The results of this process are multidimensional objects and images that re-imagine the capacities of the body and the structuring of space.

In her photographic works, fragmented views of Olson’s body oscillate between a pictured subject and a subjective perspective, creating tensions between interior, direct experience and exterior, mirrored existence, and giving the artist full control over what the viewer is allowed to see — or not. Olson draws the viewer in, but only to a point. Images of splayed legs, torsos, bent knees, partial postures, and gestures are cropped by point of view, camera, and the physical framing of the printed photographs. The images are further complicated by flash, shadows, blurring, mirror reflections, and disjointed borders. The layered visual interruptions and camouflaged elements thwart attempts to find coherence in a single visual plane or continuous meaning, disorienting the viewer’s perception of both.

Fracture and camouflage are also at play in Olson’s relief sculptures. Rigid, rectilinear edges give way to soft, curved concavities at the center. Each segment suggests a specific somatic referent, but the machine-carved forms refuse to accommodate an organic reality. The minimal, sexless forms — evoking face, midriff, small of the back, thighs, shins, or toes — are hung at specific heights along the wall, matching to corresponding parts of a standing, erect body. At the same time, the combination of curvatures and protrusions over each sculpture's surface reacts to situational light and shadow, creating a shifting image of an absent body. The reliefs’structure and relationship to the surrounding architecture, in effect, heightens and questions the viewer’s sense of their own anatomy and physical presence in the world.

B. Ingrid Olson (b. 1987) lives and works in Chicago. Solo museum exhibitions of her work have been held at the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard University; Vienna Secession; and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Her work was also featured in a two-person exhibition at The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. Olson has participated in group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Jeu de Paume, Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Aspen Art Museum; and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Works

Exhibitions

Public Exhibitions

Biography

b. 1987 in Denver, USA

Lives and works in Chicago

EDUCATION

2010

B.F.A., The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

Hys, XYZcollective, Tokyo

Keijiban, Ishikawa

2023

Pleasure Traffic, fluent, Santander

Cast of Mind, i8 Grandi, Reykjavik

2022

History Mother, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Little Sister, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Elastic X, Secession, Vienna, Austria

2019

Fingered Eyed, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík

2018

Forehead and Brain, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, USA

Kiss the architect on the mouth, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, USA

2015

double-ended arrow, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, USA

2014

The vases my monitors their frames, cura.basement, Rome, Italy

2013

From her come a gang and a run, Document, Chicago

TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2023

I wish I was alone right now, with John Henderson, Soccer Club Club, Chicago

Parallel Manipulation, with clémence de la tour du pin, Wschód, Warsaw

2018

B. Ingrid Olson and Robert Overby, Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco

2017

KLEIN/OLSON, with Astrid Klein, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024

Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Frankenstein, Fraenkel Gallery, San Fransisco

Five Easy Peaces, Croy Nielsen, Vienna, Austira

2023

Descending the Staircase, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

The Rose, lumber room, Portland, Origon

2022

Fata Morgana, Jeu de Paume, Paris, France

BLACK PAGES 1-100, Franz Josefs Kai 3, Vienna, Austria

2021

Birgir Andrésson, B. Ingrid Olson, Ragna Róbertsdóttir, i8 Gallery at No.9 Cork Street, London, UK

Elisions. N. Dash, K.R.M. Mooney, B. Ingrid Olson, Carrie Yamaoka, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík

This Is My Bodys, Bodega, New York, USA

re: collections, The Rose Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA

Someone said that the world's a stage, Grimm Gallery, New York, USA

Dependent Objects, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA

The Inconstant World, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA

Rabbit Hole, F, Houston, Texas, USA

2020

Just Connect, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
Four Flags, Chicago Manual Style, Chicago, USA
Four Flags, Netwerk Aalst, Aalst, Belgium
Finding Our Way, Lumber Room, Portland, USA
Cabin [4.3.2020 - 4.4.2020], Sweetwater, Berlin, Germany
New Visions: The Henie Onstad Triennial for Photography and New Media, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway

2019

Personal Private Public, Hauser & Wirth 22^nd Street, New York, USA

Emerge Selections 2019, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, USA

2018

Lost Without Your Rhythm, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, USA

Seeing Believing Having Holding, organized by Dan Byers, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík

Being: New Photography 2018, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

Picture Fiction: Kenneth Josephson and Contemporary Photography, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA

2017

Small Sculpture, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, USA

Fond Illusions, Galerie Perrotin, New York, USA

Women to the Front, Lumber Room, Portland, USA

The problem with having a body is that it always needs to be somewhere, The Approach, London, UK

2016

Scarlet Street, Lucien Terras, New York, USA

Natures Department, Kodomo, New York, USA

Chicago and Vicinity, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, USA

Terms of Use, Glass Curtain Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago, USA

Background/Foreground, Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, Sweden

2015

Civilization and Its Discontents, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, USA

Synecdoche, Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, USA

2014

Dreams That Money Can’t Buy, MAXXI Museo delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy

Fragments of an unknowable whole, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA

2013

We seem to still be moving, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, USA

RESIDENCIES AND AWARDS

Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, 2023

The Shifting Foundation Grant, 2023

Surf Point Foundation Residency, York, Maine, 2021

Print Catalyst Program, Yale School of Art, 2019

Artist Residency, Latitude Chicago, 2017

Fall Artist Residency, Ox-Bow School of Art, 2016

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Grant, 2012

Illinois Arts Council Grant, 2011

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Grant, 2011

Summer Residency, Spudnik Press, 2011

Fred A. Hillbruner Artist Book Fellowship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2010

Edward Ryerson Fellowship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2010

Daniels Scholar, The Daniels Fund, 2006 - 2010

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, Chicago, Illinois

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angles, California

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York

Rose Art Museum, Waltham, Massachusetts

Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton

Yale Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

Press

Bibliography

B. Ingrid Olson, 'Elastic X', 2018-2021 © The Artist

Monographs, Publications and Exhibition Catalogs

2024

Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing. New York, New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2024.

2023

Blackley, Andrew, Dan Byers, Renee Gladman, Gordon Hall, B. Ingrid Olson and Leah Pires. B. Ingrid Olson: History Mother Little Sister. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 2022. Monograph.

2022

Olson, B. Ingrid and Rosmarie Waldrop. 323 / 2021. Vienna, Austria: Secession, 2022. Artist Book.

Bock, Katinka, Béatrice Gross and Clara Schulmann. Fata Morgana. Paris, France: Manuella Editions, 2022: 8; 35; 44-49; 252-54; 277; 281.

2020

Østby Sæther, Susanne, and Brian Sholis. Why Photography? (Bjarne Bare, Behzad Farazollahi, Susanne Østby Sæther and Christian Tunge, Eds.) Milan: Skira, 2020: 23; 66-73.

Olson, B. Ingrid. B. INGRID. (Christoph Meier, Ute Müller, Nick Oberthaler, Eds.) Vienna, Austria: Black Pages, 2020. Artist Book.

2019

Zambreno, Kate. 'Appendix C: Translations of the Uncanny', Appendix Project: Talks and Exhibits. South Pasadena, California: Semiotext(e), 2019: cover; 51-64.

Zambreno, Kate. 'Introductions to B. Ingrid Olson', Screen Tests. New York: Harper Perennial, 2019: 75-83.

2018

Hughes, Holly and Kate Zambreno. B. Ingrid Olson: Forehead and Brain. Buffalo, New York: Albright-Knox ArtGallery, 2018. Exhibition catalog.

2016

Latimer, Quinn, Like A Woman: Essays, Readings, Poems. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2017: 59-61.

Carsten, Jesse, and B. Ingrid Olson. Salt. New York: Hassla, 2016. Artist Book.

Selected Reviews and Texts

2024

Bennett, Alex. "(I), ELLIpse. B. Ingrid Olson." Flash Art, December 9.

Goukassian, Elena and Benjamin Sutton. “The 2024 Whitney Biennial in five key themes.” theartnewspaper.com, March 21.

Vincler, John. “Was the Vision for the 2024 Whitney Biennial ‘Better Than the Real Thing’?” culturedmag.com, March 13.

2023

Barton, Brit. "B. Ingrid Olson: Don't Flinch." Mousse, Spring 2023: 206-211.

2022

Harris, Jenny. "Jenny Harris on B. Ingrid Olson." Artforum, December 2022.

Olson, B. Ingrid and Jared Quinton. "Any Room Can Be a Camera: B. Ingrid Olson Interviewed by Jared Quinton." Interview. BOMB-magazine.org, October 13.

Neuhold, Margit. "Meanings in Abeyance". Camera Austria International, no. 159: 79-80.

Brigitte Borchhardt-Birbaumer. "Spiele elastischer Raumkörper". WeinerZeitung.at, July 26. 2020

Strand, Nina. "Et ønske om materialitet". NyTid.no, February 15.

2019

Birgisdóttir, Ragnheiður. "Samspil sjónar og snertingar". Morgunblaðið, June 6: 65.

Bonilla-Edgington, Jennifer Rose. "Personal Private Public." The Brooklyn Rail, October.

2018

Fulton, Lauren and B. Ingrid Olson. "Flip the Medium: A conversation between artist B. Ingrid Olson and curator Lauren Fulton." Interview. Objektiv, no. 18 (November): 50-53.

Bell, Natalie. "First Look: B. Ingrid Olson." Art in America, (April): 25.

Kate Zambreno. "Introductions by Kate Zambreno" BOMB-magazine.org, April 26.

Spalding, Jill. "Being: New Photography 2018." Review. StudioInternational.com, April 7.

Greenberger, Alex. "The Browser: MoMA's Gripping 'New Photography' Goes Behind the Lens." ArtNews.com, March 22.

Indrisek, Scott. "At MoMA, Photography Doesn't Have to Reinvent Itself to Be Radical." Artsy.com, March 20.

2017

Cluggish, Sara. "Critic's Guide: Chicago." Review. Frieze.com, September 13.

Indrisek, Scott. "18 Artists Share the Books That Inspire Them." Artsy.net, June 23.

Cramerotti, Alfredo. "Astrid Klein & B. Ingrid Olson." Interview. The Seen, no. 4, (May): 36-43.

2016

McDonough, Tom. "B. Ingrid Olson." Osmos, Number 8 (Spring): 10-17.

2015

Blalock, Lucas. "Push-Back: A Conversation Between B. Ingrid Olson and Lucas Blalock." Interview. Objektiv, no. 12 (November): 8-26.

Aletti, Vince. "Goings on About Town: B. Ingrid Olson." Review. The New Yorker, February 16.

Blalock, Lucas. "Double-Ended Arrow- Review of B. Ingrid Olson." Review. Objektiv.no, March 3.

Gopnik, Blake. "B. Ingrid Olson: Bringing Cézanne up to Date." Review. Artnet.com, January 20.

Lee, Nathaniel. "B. Ingrid Olson." Review. Modern Painters (April).

2014

Foumberg, Jason. "B. Ingrid Olson at Document." Review. Modern Painters, April. 2013

Blackley, Andrew. "Lab: The Tenth Image." Cura. Magazine (Fall): 124-133.

Published Talks, Interviews and Panels

2023
"Ópera um ást og ofbeldi, Tól, Cast of mind” Víðsjá. Ríkisútvarpið. January 24.

2022

Reading: Renee Gladman and Rosmarie Waldrop, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, Cambridge.

"Artists: B. Ingrid Olson in conversation with Annette Südbeck." Secession Podcast: Artists.

Artist Talk: B. Ingrid Olson in conversation with Leah Pires and Dan Byers, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, Cambridge.

"No. 566: B. Ingrid Olson, Reinventing the Américas." Modern Art Notes Podcast.

2021

The Inconstant World: Liz Deschenes, David Horvitz and B. Ingrid Olson in conversation with Jamillah James, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

2018

Art Matters: Heidi Zuckerman in conversation with B. Ingrid Olson, Aspen Art Museum.

"No. 347: Thomas Scheibitz, B. Ingrid Olson." Modern Art Notes Podcast.

Outspoken: B. Ingrid Olson's Forehead and Brain, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo.

2017

Artists Talk: Astrid Klein and B. Ingrid Olson in conversation with Solveig Øvstebø, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago.

Installation shots