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 manager. Her 3D paintings, installations, and public art works have been exhibited nationally, most recently in a solo exhibitions with 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. She is currently preparing for her first solo museum show at the Long Island Children's Museum--forthcoming in January 2026.
As a reviewer, she serves as a 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).
She currently serves as a Program Officer, Career Advice and Training at NYFA, where she manages 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.
