Ollie Rollins: An Artist’s Statement and Recent Work

OLLIE ROLLINS | AN ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Through illustration and textile art, Ollie creates scenes in which he attempts to emphasize the more magical and mysterious aspects of reality in order to make the viewer feel as if they are looking through a window into another world. His art contains elements of realism, fantasy, and horror. He draws from his own observations of scenes that stand out to him in real life, combined with his imagination. His work also often contains pieces of other people’s worlds, such as photographs or objects, that are just as much of a mystery to him as to the viewer. As an artist, he relies on the viewer’s curiosity and desire to understand what they are looking at.

Ollie uses distortion of perspective and color to convey a particular emotion or mood in a work of art. Bright, warm colors pull the eye, and warped buildings make one feel as if they are looking in on a scene from the outside, which engages them with the composition. This adds an element of fantasy within reality. He also uses simple motifs that are reminiscent of childhood to maintain a feeling of nostalgia—one of the sources that moves him to create. Among other things, his primary goal is to create an atmosphere of familiarity and comfort.

52 Volume 16 • 2021