Artist Statement My work responds to the idealism and anxiety of endless striving, grappling with a relentless fixation on a better elsewhere. The 3D paintings and site-responsive installations invite the viewer to navigate towards an imagined landscape. Abstracted staircases defy spatial logic: rendered impossible to climb, they provide false pathways to an inaccessible place. Disjointed but interconnected, these structures weave through imagined skyscapes, waterscapes, and distant horizons that never arrive.
Bio
Kelly Olshan is a Brooklyn-based visual artist and arts entrepreneur. Her 3D paintings, installations, and public art works have been exhibited nationally. Her debut solo museum show is currently on view at Long Island Children's Museum through August 3, 2026. Previous solo exhibitions include Chashama (NY, NY), the Garment District Alliance's Space for Public Art (NY, NY), and Earlville Opera House (Earlville, NY). Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos, Artist Equity Gallery, and The Yard, among others.
As a reviewer, she serves as a frequent panelist for public art commissions, grants, and residencies, and sits on the NYC Department of Transportation Advisory Committee. A frequent lecturer and presenter, she has given artist and professional practices talks at School of Visual Arts (SVA), Rhode Island School of Art and Design (RISD), Residency Unlimited, Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, and Columbia University, among others. She has been an artist in residence with Chashama (ChaNorth), and named an Emerging Leader by New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).
As an arts manager, she served as a Senior Learning Program Officer at New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), where she managed a portfolio of professional development programs for artists globally. She graduated Valedictorian from UNC Asheville with a BFA in painting, where her work is part of the University's permanent collection, and holds an MA in Arts Administration from Columbia University.
