Monica Olsen is a Norwegian Sculptor/Visual Artist who is working in differents medias within sculpture, painting and drawing. Through the years she has shown her work both in the US and in Norway, after completing an MFA at The New York Academy of Art in 2011. There she concentrated in Sculpture and extra anatomy through the “Anatomy Track” as well as a lot of focus on drawing. In 2005 she completed a Bachelor in Visual Art at the National College of Arts in Oslo.

She is a Fulbright Alumni for the academic years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011, from Norway to USA. As a participant in the Fulbright program and a receiver of a J-1 Exchange Visitor Visa, a two year home residency is required by law, so she went back to Norway after graduation and worked as an artist. In 2014 she moved back to New York in through a H-1B visa, a skillbased visa sponsored by her new employer, Jeff Koons.

After living in Brooklyn, New York City for multiple years as a sculptor while simultaneously developing her own work, she relocated back to Norway in 2019. 

Her main focus and interest is the search for body language, human expression, form and body. She's using fictional and personal narratives while portraying intimate situations and individual characters.

“I’ve always had a figurative expression and been drawing and modeling “the figure” using different techniques. The last few years I’ve been working on series with different characters trapped in situations with objects that’s a part of the narratives, the psycological side of the subject, as well as a hint to the contemporary world. Stuffed animals have been a part an ongoing project, children i costumes, and different elements about women and womens health. Often as a reflection or a comment to life and it’s changes and meaningful events for individuals. About personal relationships, womens health, recovery, unity and exclusion.

Bodylanguage, moods, and the way we act work as a visual and direct way to communicate and is often more clear than verbal communication. I like to work with portraits, the figure, and the stories about people.

I have lived in Brooklyn, NYC for seven years. Beside working as an artist I also worked as a sculptor for Jeff Koons from Oktober 2014 to January 2019, and for Barry X Ball from March 2019 to September 2019. When I was in the start of a pregnancy and my visa was about to expire, I decided to move back to Norway in October 2019. Currently live and work in Fredrikstad, Norway- as an artist, teaching-artist, and an educator .

“Mitt kunstnerskap har alltid hatt et figurativt formspråk med fokus på «mennesket» innen ulike teknikker. De siste årene har jeg jobbet mye med ulike karakterer fanget i situasjoner med forskjellige objekter som forteller en historie. Med noe som sier noe om tiden vi er i og som karakteriserer og viser noe av den psykologiske siden av subjektet. Kosebamser eller «stuffed animals» har vært en stor del av de siste årenes verk, barn med kostymer, kvinner med kosebamser, og ulike elementer fra graviditet og fødsel. Ofte en refleksjon eller kommentar til livet og endringer. Betydningsfulle hendelser for enkeltmennesket og fortrinnsvis kvinner. Om forhold i nære relasjoner, kvinnehelse, sykdom og «recovery”, svangerskap, samhørighet og utenforskap.

Kroppsspråk og stemninger, og måten vi oppfører oss fungerer som et visuelt og direkte kommunikasjonsmiddel for følelser og holdninger og er ofte tydeligere enn verbal kommunikasjon, og mye av grunnen til at jeg like å jobbe med portrett, “the figure” og historiene rundt mennesket.

Har bodd i Brooklyn, NYC i totalt syv år. I tillegg til eget kunstnerskap jobbet jeg senere som skulptør for:

• Jeff Koons, oktober 2014 - januar 2019, Chelsea, Manhattan

• Barry X Ball, mars 2019 - september 2019, Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Da jeg var i begynnelse av et svangerskap og mitt arbeidsvisum var i ferd med å utløpe, besluttet jeg i oktober 2019 å relokalisere til Norge.

Bor og arbeider i Fredrikstad med kunst, undervisning og formidling.

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