- Wooden Toy Features -

INTERVIEW WITH KATIE OLIVAS (FROM EDITION 5 - 2008) // Words by Josie Edwards

Angelic children with disfigured identities begrudgingly posed with Shirley Temple-like exactitude whose sullen faces question the validity of virtue and all things nice. Welcome to the bizarre world of Kathie Olivas.

Insolent and impertinent, and maybe just a little bit indignant; these are the Misery Children. Distilled from the perceptive mind of Kathie Olivas, their eyes glare out from their captive poses with a resounding resentment that ricochets off each component within the canvas amid the lolly pops, distorted playthings and costumes that these children don with bitter intent. Tilted masks reveal malevolent expressions while innocuous settings do little to hide the tensions present in each one of Olivas’ paintings. I could go on like this forever but it would serve no purpose other than to restate the obvious, which I am sure you can see for yourself anyway. There are pictures to go with this article aren’t there?

Olivas is a brilliant creator with a mind for mischief. Growing up in New Mexico, she describes her style as being distilled from a mix of classic storybook animation and post-apocalyptic undertones. “I like to think of my work as being based in dark comedy,” she says. “New Mexico has such an inspiring mix of scenery and that has given me a true appreciation for nature and the environment. At home antiques and vintage toys always surrounded me and so I have always had an appreciation for things with a history. I was also addicted to animated films and Saturday morning cartoons.”

Olivas’ Misery Children series explores the idea of misplaced or misused childhood innocence and naivety, a concept which grows its roots from within Olivas’ own psyche. “The characters emerge from exploring the alter ego - primarily my alter ego. The entire Misery Children series is rooted in satire and often reflects current political and social issues. They are survivors and as children they represent a new beginning and a way of starting over. Their perceived innocence represents a hopefulness in this brave new world,” she explains. “I also like to think of them as being more mutated than deformed, as if they have built their own defence mechanisms and this is their evolution.”

I suggest this affection for her creations could almost be perceived as motherly, an idea that Olivas’ takes to. “I’m not sure if a maternal aspect translates into the work; that’s an interesting observation, though I think that probably does play a role in how I try to present each character, as though almost being in the role of a stage mother making sure their child appears superficially presentable. To me they have always been empowered characters,” she muses.

This answer automatically saves Olivas from receiving a ‘stereotypically temperamental artist’ badge, and further prying reveals that she is not averse to other’s views on her work. “I always find these interpretations really interesting and to me there is no right or wrong way to look at something; it should be a very personal and reflective experience. I think the only time I’m ever offended is when someone pre-judges the work because they don’t understand it - I see a lot of that because of the dark subject matter,” she says.

When transforming a blank faceless canvas into a work of carnival grotesquery Olivas works mainly in oils after starting with a copper-underpainting, yet she is not immune to the lure of other weapons. “I like using water soluble paints and other mediums and I don’t use any solvents to paint or clean with. I use a wide range of brushes depending on how loose or tight I want the painting to be and for customs and sculptural work I primarily use epoxy resins over armatures and then just treat the surfaces as I would a traditional painting,” Olivas explains. “I tend to start with basic shape break-downs to find a composition and from there it’s pretty spontaneous. I usually work on several layouts at one time along with a general storyline. I try not to restrict myself too much on what something has to be or look like and just let a piece develop on its own.”

Olivas describes meeting her husband, fellow artist Brandt Peters, as a life changing experience. Their partnership is based on more than just love for each other, with the two often sharing studio space. “I met Brandt at a club - which is funny because I rarely ever went out to clubs and bars. I literally used to spend all of my free time painting. I had actually had a very traumatic, near death, experience a couple of weeks before we met and my roommate at the time had to literally drag me to get me out of the house! Of all places, she took me there. Out of a huge crowd of people, I ended up meeting Brandt and within a year we were married,” says Olivas. “We work together all of the time, so there is always a back and forth about each other’s work, but we don’t do actual collaborative pieces so often. When we do it usually goes in spurts and we’ll just switch over to doing all collaborative pieces for a period of time. We try to keep the process as organic as possible, so sometimes we’ll paint together non-stop for months and other times just days.”

Happily, Olivas has plans to visit Australia someday, but in the meantime she’s super busy preparing for a new showing early next year. “Right now I’m working on some new paintings and sculptures for my next solo show, which will be at Gallery 1988 in San Francisco in February. My new pieces tend to be based more in individual identity and development of the artificial world that I have been working on in the past year,” she advises. “And I’ve been working on several original sculptures, some new vinyl toy projects with MINDstyle toys, and my first book Ghost and Martyrs with Murphy design.” Busy, Busy!

www.kathieolivas.com