As Los Angeles reopens and people emerge cautiously into activities loved and missed, galleries summon, to indulge us in the beauty they showcase. Anne Olsen Daub’s exhibit Out of The Box is just such an indulgence where viewers can feel a child’s wonder via Frank Baum’s The Land of Oz. The exhibition opens at Michael Stearns Studio at the Lofts June 12.
From her imagination Olsen Daub has created concepts and characters constructed from corrugated paper/cardboard that speak both to the fairy tale and to current times. During the last year through the pandemic, Olsen Daub began this work inspired by the seven deadly sins. It evolved from there. She wanted to create big, bold and colorful single iconic images. She succeeded. Their scale allows the observer to feel tiny beside them, as if through a child’s eyes conjuring wonder. Out of The Box creations indeed jump out of their frames with powerful coloration and most pieces measuring about five square feet.
Parts of Tin and Nimmie are mutually supportive characters in this tale. The idea came to Olsen Daub after she had worked with a piece for a long time and it evolved into Parts of Tin. The pieces — representing the Tin Man, or Tin Woodman who the character is named after and Nimmie, Tin Man’s love interest — are compatible beside each other. Nimmie is prominent in pink hues and Tin, the working man, is painted in industrial silver. Olsen Daub reveals each one’s softer side, through a heart for Pieces of Tin and her intriguing choice of red doors for Nimmie’s lips.
The seven deadly sins inspired her piece All That Glitters. At first glance it echoes a monumental, gold glittering vase, but then, it’s a voluminous bag cinched at the very top, stuffed full of loot. Field of Poppies is lush in crimson; its vibrant, contiguous blooms burst outward exuding sensual botanica.
“The rest of the sins were depressing, and not inspiring,” Olsen Daub said. “I just took off from there, and honestly it just kind of happened. It wasn’t like I picked it. But once I got into Parts of Tin and Nimmie and the torch — [a bright golden yellow sculpture titled No Place Like Home] … it [became] very abstract … to pull it together into one concept. Some are stronger with The Land of Oz than others, but as a group they all complement each other and have something to say.”
Olsen Daub listened to the audiobook version of The Land Of Oz as she worked, which inspired the sculptures adaptations. Between imagination, her background in fashion — studying pattern making, materials and design and her keen ability to assemble fantastic imagery [just check her Instagram], these works are utterly suited to her ingenuity. Though she noted, all corrugated paper is not created equal.
“[It’s] thick and thin, coated or not, heavy or light,” Olsen Daub said. “I just reached out to work with it. I like to bend it and fold it and give it wrinkles and depth. And as Eugene [Daub, her husband and renowned figure sculptor] said, I’m making relief sculptures.
“Sometimes the cardboard is on the bias, and sometimes it isn’t. [It’s] all over the place. But that’s what gives it some attitude.”
Olsen Daub doesn’t like things to be perfect. She’s spontaneous and doesn’t do pre-drawings. She did note she might have a pre-thought but there’s no architectural drawings. As the sculptures came together she soon wanted to paint them. First she used spray paint, then flash paint — a vinyl emulsion from Paris which she said provides a beautiful, intense matte finish.
“There’s some beautiful colors, from house paint to flash paint to mixed media but the torch is painted with house paint,” Olsen Daub said. “The surface on each are treated accordingly. The Wizard of Oz is just so rich with imagery to be inspired by. But it doesn’t have to say it so much, the [images] can mean other things.”
Olsen Daub said the simple shapes are quite interesting to do but she wanted them to feel different. The shadows they emanate also provide a sense of curiosity to this collection, suggesting more to the eye than it first encounters. She said the torch really wasn’t meant to be part of it.
“Political turmoil inspired Liberty’s torch,” Olsen Daub said.
She manifested the torch and wanted it to be golden yellow. At first she didn’t know why but now she does.
“Yellow was chosen to remind us there’s no place like home,” she said. “It’s not just all the wizard. It has to do with now too, how people interpret things. It’s been a challenge but I found my niche … something I can build, paint and create … and it’s unique to me.”
These sculptures have inspired Olsen Daub to make more, especially the crown that Glinda the Good Witch wore.
“It’s uplifting but yet there are stories behind [the pieces],” she said. “It’s a story within a story. It inspired me to make more things based on nature and wonderful things with flora, fauna and nature. It’s been really fun to create.”
Time: 3 to 6 p.m. June 12. The show is up through July 17.
Details: anneolsendaub.com; michaelstearnsstudio.com
Cost: Free
Venue: Michael Stearns Studio at The Lofts, 401 S. Mesa St., San Pedro