Mike Ozolnieks

"When I'm working I have to constantly take a step back and look at it from far way. I'll occasionally walk away and do something else because sometimes that first glance when walking back into the studio will tell you everything you need to know about your painting. "

In his paintings, Mike O. provides a variety of contrasting elements that require the viewer to take time with the work and establish their own ideas of where and why connections take place within the piece. The sheer size of the work and the layers of information that are discovered in each painting provoke a real cerebral and emotional experience.

GE: Most of your imagery is very interpretive - why do you feel this is important to your work?

Oil on Canvas. 2011

MO: I used to always have the problem of being too literal with the message I was trying to convey to the viewer. In my more recent paintings, I have tried to become more suggestive and only put things in that are essential to what I’m trying to say. I like to think of interpretation as a way for the artist to let the viewer in on a story about them, it’s humbling. It’s not always easy for me to openly tell everyone about what I am painting about. It also becomes more than just looking at a painting and seeing it for a piece of canvas with paint on it. It’s about stepping into the work and creating an individual interpretation of what it’s about. It makes the painting different to everyone who looks at it; in that sense it is really never just one painting about one thing.

GE: Given the size that you work on, what do you feel is the most challenging thing about working on such a large-scale painting?

MO: When I started working with Ed Smith a couple years ago he had me work on paintings that were about 10' x 6'. I hadn'’t had an extensive amount of experience with oil and I had never worked very big. When he showed me the wall he wanted me to work on, I thought to myself, "Yeah Ed, sick joke." Looking back, it was a way of learning how to swim by being tossed into the pool, and I am so grateful for that. It has helped me so much because now large-scale paintings don’t seem very big at all in comparison to those first canvases. I have grown to love working on a big scale, but with it I’'ve had to learn how to create a relationship with the space. The hardest part in the beginning was always keeping composition in mind no matter what I wanted to include in the painting. It's like getting a new room and trying to figure out the best place for everything. I've also learned by looking at other work that every inch of the canvas doesn'’t need to be highly worked over, as long as it all works together. When I'm working I have to constantly take a step back and look at it from far way. One area could look great until I step back and see it just doesn't fit at all. I'll occasionally walk away and do something else because sometimes that first glance when walking back into the studio will tell you everything you need to know about your painting. Shooting pictures while I work on a painting has always been helpful for me too.

GE: Considering you are presently working on multiple pieces, what about working on a number of pieces at the same time do you like as opposed to the cycle of finishing one work and beginning the next?

MO: I never used to work on multiple pieces even though professors had always told me to. I'd get so wrapped up in one work that it was hard to think beyond it until I was finished. I have learned that working on several pieces can help open up a door to one of them that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. I used to work on a painting until I would go crazy and never want to look at it again. Having multiple pieces lets me take a break from one and sometimes just vent onto another piece of canvas - oddly enough sometimes that becomes my best work. It has become so beneficial for me because I always like to be working and now I can do that without getting stuck at a dead end on just one of them. I am at my best when I can get momentum and always come into the studio with something I'm excited to work on. It’s so important to me to always make my next painting better than my last and have that outlet to just keep pushing forward.

GE: Which artists are you inspired by?

Oil on Canvas. 2011

MO: This has always been a tough question for me because I tend to find specific pieces from varying artists that I fall in love with, but it's not always about one specific artist; I am the same with my music. Although, ever since I have seen one of J.M.W. Turner'’s paintings in person I have become a huge fan. He has the ability to create beautiful suggestive landscapes with large strokes and flowing colors, but then he'll have detailed areas of the painting that are so developed and intricate. I have always wanted to be able to do that in my work, so it is only natural that his paintings have become inspiration for me. Recently, I have tried to use a more textured style of painting that mirrors the work of Jasper Johns. He fills the space in such an interesting way that he really has no need for imagery in his work at all, his textures are just incredibly successful. I have started to also check out a lot of work by Robert Longo and Anselm Kiefer. I find artwork in all different kind of styles appealing, and I think that’s the beauty of art. I'll always try to take something away from a painting even if I don't like it - there’s always something to learn, even if it’s what not to do. In general, when looking at master painters throughout history, I tend to enjoy the early work they did before they became the well-known artists we know them as today.

GE: How are you hoping to incorporate art into your life after college?

MO: The million dollar question. I think every artist has been asked the wonderful question, "So what do you wanna do?" The real answer is attend graduate school, that's at least what I tell my parents to keep them off my back for now. In looking at it as a general question I honestly see myself working in the world of branding or some form of graphic design. In high school, we were able to design the logo for the school play, after that I was hooked. My work has been very involved in both digital media and studio art. The day will come when I have to probably choose one and I am not excited for that. In a perfect world I would love to paint just because it has become such a part of my life and I don't know how I will do without it. Art will always be a part of my life, just as it has been for as long as I can remember.  It is something I cannot get away from even if I wanted to. If I don't end up having a career in the art field, the foundation that art has given me will always be a part of my work. To be honest, I love not knowing what I’ll be doing after I graduate, all the doors are open for me.

Oil on Canvas. 2011

GE: What do you think it takes to become a successful contemporary artist in today's art world?

MO: I always feel so grateful for the kind of work environment that our studio [Marist College Steel Plant] has. This place has become a home because of the people that have been here to help me get to where I am today. This studio has prepared me for working in the real world, but I won't have those people to tell me why my painting looks so bad and how I can fix it. I think that always being a student of the arts in order to gain knowledge and use that knowledge to help progress your work is extremely important to becoming a successful artist. I like how Pam Avril mentioned in her Graphic Echo interview about creating a personal vocabulary and history to support you. I have a lot of sketchbooks that have filled up over the years and they are the heart and soul of what I do. They are there to always remind me what my work is about and where I've come from.

GE: Given that we live in an era where the definition of art has become utterly ambiguous, do you think that for an object to be considered art it needs to be aesthetically pleasing?

MO: I think the role of an artist is to make something that is visually strong. It is important that when making a piece of art, the intention is to make something that people want to look at. It is always important to provoke an emotional response from the artwork, but I still believe it has to be aesthetically pleasing because you have to see it to feel it. I have always had a struggle between conveying the message I want to get across to the viewer while still thinking about creating a painting that is visually pleasing. Artists that blur the line of what is art, or make something that isn’'t aesthetically pleasing just to say they can isn’t something I am a huge fan of. Being an artist does include sometimes pushing the boundaries and doing something no one has done before. However, there are fundamentals of art that need to considered. I think it goes back to the respect for the arts and being able to still consider something's composition, use of color, technique, etc. If someone doesn'’t take the time to consider all of those things then they are not making a piece of art.  

Oil on Canvas. 2011

GE: Because we are all influenced by other artists and acquire ideas from other artwork, some say that unadultered originality in art is dead. Do you believe this to be true?

MO: I refuse to believe that is true. If it is then we should all close up shop and become art historians. Most, if not all, artists reference past work and use it to help improve their own work. I think that is so important, but it’s about reflecting your own style off of what has been done before. When artists put their own twist on past work there is an infinite amount of possibility for originality. Everyone has a story to tell, and everyone has a different way of telling it. A lot of my work is based off of family and my own experiences. I am not the first to paint about family and personal experiences, nor will I be the last. At the same time, no one will ever have the same relationship with them that I have; the same goes for any other relationship someone has with another person that has impacted their life. My work is a way for me to show how grateful I am for what they have given me. Art gives me that outlet to show what is important to me. Work that is a personal passion will always be original, and no one can take that away from artwork with meaning and heart as its inspiration.