Biography & CV
Chad M. Olsen (b. 1983) is an artist who blurs the boundary of what painting is and what it can be. His practice is dedicated to experimenting with oil paint and mineral spirits on traditional opaque material and non-traditional translucent materials.
Olsen’s work focuses on color and paint application. Painting with oil and mineral spirits on translucent surfaces such as acetate, Dura-Lar, glass, and transparency film create opportunities of unexpected color relationships with moments of subtle and intense contrast. Olsen presents the paintings on translucent material opposite of the painterly side. This orientation creates highly saturated ethereal atmospheres and invites the viewer to look through the material to see the paintings. These paintings are frequently mistaken as photographs at first glance.
In 2025, Olsen experimented with glass for the first time, creating artworks that could be considered paintings and also sculptures. It showcased Olsen’s use of oil and mineral spirits that created a monochromatic dream-like wash in a square composition hovering on and through the glass surface. For Olsen, it was a breakthrough that invited him to consider painting as installation. The two glass pieces were collected by ArtBank, a public art collection and exhibition space located in McCook, Nebraska.
Olsen was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. He studied studio art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under the mentorship of Aaron Holz and Keith Jacobshagen. After receiving his BFA, Olsen moved to New York City in the Bronx where he focused and perfected painting oil on transparency film. In 2017, Olsen returned to Nebraska upon his representation by Kiechel Fine Art in Lincoln, Nebraska. Since joining the gallery in 2016, Olsen has had 4 solo exhibitions and featured in over a dozen group and First Friday shows. Throughout his career, Olsen has had solo and group shows in the Midwest and East Coast and has work in private collections across the United States. Currently, Olsen resides and maintains a studio in Kearney, Nebraska.
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Pictures of Nothing, Maple St. Construct, Omaha, NE
2024 The Idea of You, Walker Art Gallery, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney, NE
2022 Can we speak in flowers, Kiechel Fine Art, Lincoln, NE
2020 Never Really Gone, Kiechel Fine Art, Lincoln, NE
2018 What’s Nebraska like, babe?, Kiechel Fine Art, Lincoln, NE
2016 Homeland: Over the Edge of the World, Assurity Life Insurance presented by Kiechel Fine Art, Lincoln, NE
2015 Transparency + Nostalgia, Spativm Gallery, Lincoln, NE
2013 Transparency + Landscapes, Spativm Gallery, Lincoln, NE
2012 Yellow, Spativm Gallery, Lincoln, NE
2011 The Tulip Series, Almanac Gallery, Hoboken, NJ
Tunnel, Spativm Gallery, Lincoln, NE
Group Exhibitions (selected)
2024 A Legacy of Painting: Examining Four Perspectives, Kiechel Fine Art, Lincoln, NE
Come On, Come Over, Elder Gallery, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE
2023 2023 Benefit Art Auction Exhibition, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE
Post Façade: a series of short films, Maple St. Construct, Omaha, NE
2022 Who’s Next?: Agrarian Artists under 40, Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art, David City, NE
Improvise: a series of short films, Maple St. Construct, Omaha, NE
2021 Contemporary Nebraska: Selections from Kiechel Fine Art, Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, NE
2021 Nebraska Artist Biennial, Gallery 1516, Omaha, NE
2019 Best of Nebraska, Kiechel Fine Art, Lincoln, NE
2015 25th Annual Miniatures Show, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO
2014 Ballet X Benefit Exhibition, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2013 Ballet X Benefit Exhibition, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2010 BFA Capstone Exhibition, Eisentrager-Howard Gallery, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
24th Annual Juried Undergraduate Art Exhibition, Eisentrager- Howard Gallery, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
Residencies
2025 Maple St. Construct, Omaha, NE
Press
Tyler Ellyson, “Kearney artist Chad Olsen explores nature and impermanence in UNK exhibition,”
UNK News, September 7, 2024. https://unknews.unk.edu/2024/09/07/kearney-artist-
chad-olsen-explores-nature-and-impermanence-in-unk-exhibition/.
“Meet Chad Olsen, Contemporary Artist, Painter,” Shoutout Colorado, March 26, 2024.
https://shoutoutcolorado.com/meet-chad-olsen-contemporary-artistpainter/.
L. Kent Wolgamott, “’Can We Speak in Flowers’ show opens Friday at Kiechel,” Lincoln Journal
Star, October 1, 2022. https://journalstar.com/niche/neighborhood-extra/can-we-speak-
in-flowers-show-opens-friday-at-kiechel/article_12502410-486b-50c2-8c55-
00b6bbf6a9c9.html.
John Keenan, “Nebraska artists featured in exhibit on campus,” University of Nebraska Medical
Center, July 2, 2021. https://www.unmc.edu/newsroom/2021/07/02/nebraska-artists-
featured-in-exhibit-on-campus/.
L. Kent Wolgamott, “Evolving abstract minimalist landscapes part of Kiechel display,” Lincoln
Journal Star, November 5, 2020. https://journalstar.com/entertainment/visual-
art/evolving-abstract-minimalist-landscapes-part-of-kiechel-display/article_d44975d1-
0ce7-5e1c-8f9d-11d61f12a9cd.html.
L. Kent Wolgamott, “Minimal, abstract spin on Nebraska landscapes in Chad M. Olsen’s Kiechel
Show,” Lincoln Journal Star, September 13, 2018. https://journalstar.com/entertainment/visual-art/minimal-abstract-spin-on-nebraska-landscapes-in-chad-m-olsens-kiechel-show-wolgamott/article_f44cb5cb-d0e9-500f-8e6d-73909a8754e6.html
“Chad M. Olsen,” Fresh Paint Magazine (blog), June 11, 2015.
Awards
2010 Jean R. Faulkner Memorial Award, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
Education
2010 BFA, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
Contact
chad@chadmolsen.com / 402-202-2976
Kearney, Nebraska
