Senior art majors Peter Olson and Caleb Wassell are a testament to the significance of ‘90s cartoons. The friends and fellow printmakers both credit cartoons and animated films for functioning as their earliest and most notable creative influences.
Olson and Wassell’s screen-prints are on display at Kaladi Coffee until November, in a show united by both artists’ attention to character and distinctive visual portrayal of narrative.
“I grew up in the ‘90s, as we all did, watching a lot of cartoons like Thundercats or He-Man or Batman, those kind of shows. And then eventually I started to draw those characters and cartoons and little comics all the time. I would invent my own characters,” said Olson, who is a Bachelor of Arts from Edina, Minn.
Olson has been screen-printing since his freshman year of high school, and has continued taking screen-printing classes throughout his four years at DU. Screen-printing is a process that uses woven mesh that supports an ink blocking stencil in order to achieve a desired image.
Olson loves the complex process he has become so familiar with.
“You slowly build up the image from the paper. The way I like to print, I like to have all the colors underneath it and I throw that black layer on and it just locks everything together. I just go in the studio, take my shoes off and finish the whole thing at once,” said Olson.
But what he loves most is the possibility to create character and spark a back-story in the process of revealing those multicolored layers.
“If I could elicit a feeling from someone, it would be nostalgia, in that they’re curious about a character. I’m always searching for the feeling that reminds me of when I really liked that movie or that cartoon,” said Olson, who draws a lot of inspiration from nostalgic media akin to ‘80s pulp fantasy films like Crull or The Dark Crystal.
The artist also has a penchant for crests and creating balance within the piece.
“I like to think of some of these things as embodying moods or state of minds,” said Olson, indicating his favorite piece in the show, which is entitled “Sea Monster.”
Olson works primarily from stencils he creates on his computer, but loves the aesthetic and human aspect of creating his own screen-print instead of simply printing a digital image off.
“I realized when I studied abroad in Tasmania that my digital work lends itself really well to screen printing because you’re able to create your stencils on the computer,” said Olson, who has a minor in Emergent Digital Practices.
It was in his screen-printing classes that he became better acquainted with Wassell, a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Las Vegas.
Like Olson, he started creating art at a young age.
“I’ve been drawing ever since I was, like, three. I mean everyone says that, but it’s the truth. I’d go to the Pixar movies and come home and try to draw the characters, or just draw Disney characters and that kind of thing,” said Wassell.
Wassell works primarily in oil paint, but joined Olson in the Kaladi show in order to fill the large space. Two-thirds of the work in the show is Olson’s, and the other third is Wassell’s.
His aesthetic combines well with Olson’s, making a coherent and visually unified body of work for the show.
“I think it is in a way a street art aesthetic with high contrast pop images, its accessible and almost illustrative,” said Wassell, describing his work.
Wassell, like Olson, grew up creating art. He plans to make his way into the gallery scene and pursue art as a career after graduation.
He loves the unique element of surprise involved in screen-printing, which he also notices in ceramics.
“You don’t get to see what’s going to happen until you pull that screen and lift it up. When it’s right, it’s nice. It tells me that the connection between my brain and my hands is working,” said Wassell.
He observed that both he and Olson are influenced by an attention to character.
“It’s about making a playing card deck of characters,” said Wassell. “In a way, we both do that. That’s what draws you into the piece, that element of fiction.”
Both Olson and Wassell are excited to have their work on display away from their usual environment, the DU art buildings. And both seniors hope that people will identify with their art.
“I like to create pieces that remind me of the things that I’ve connected with so much,” said Olson. “People value art when they connect with it.”
An Artist Talk with Olson and Wassell will be held on Thursday, Oct. 17 from 6 – 8 p.m at Kaladi. For information on displaying art at Kaladi, email artcurator@kaladicoffee.com.