by Amra Brooks, LA Weekly, January 4th–10th, 2008
Robert Olsen and Adam Ross both explore the meaning of utopia in their paintings — the concept of utopia itself being an imagined ideal that is ultimately unattainable. Olsen's paintings focus on desolate urban spaces: the iconic 76 gas-station ball against a pitch-black sky, an empty bench on a train platform. The subjects, painted from different angles, feel stark and cold, as if lit with fluorescent lights in complete darkness. Ross deals with a more sci-fi depiction of what also feels like an abstracted urban space. His paintings are fragmented, creating a kind of anxiety inherent in his vision.