I have a solo show coming up. I’m very excited about this show as the work is a strong change in direction for me. I’ll be showing assemblages (one kinetic) and prints.

SouthSouthWest presents
Biolume — New works by Niels Oeltjen aka Nails
Text by Pogo Jones

The works exhibited in Biolume came out of Oeltjen’s experiments in deconstructing typographic form, and reconstituting the elements as imagery — a process that is essentially the reverse of the development of the letter-form as abstractions-of-abstractions-of-abstractions of glyphs. The results, visually speaking, are works that skirt up against design, as well as reflecting forms derived from Oeltjen’s graffiti letters.

Looking closer we see Oeltjen’s interest in the modular expressed in his use of repetition, and interlocking components. This is a development tied into his street art — it evolved from the need to streamline the working process, as well as inject the joy of chance into his work. He says “I got hooked on the notion of developing a ‘toolbox’ of images that I can reference, each time reconfiguring them in a new way to serve a new purpose, and to create a new message. I relate this to fonts and other image systems, in that the basic image (or glyph) can be reinterpreted in countless ways, each time adding something to the collective.”

Regarding process, Oeltjen has been interested in the idea of multiple filtering to develop images. By applying many filters (mental and physical processes) to an image it is distorted and abstracted, and in turn rebuilt into something new according to decisions made by the artist, both conscious and intuitive. Oeltjen’s process revealed the ‘sympathy of form’ between the manufactured and the biological. The forms that
particularly excited him he connected with something he has been fascinated with since childhood — the mysterious life-forms found in our ocean’s darkest depths. “To me the deep sea is the last magical place on earth.”

His interest in the deep ties in with a new notion in his work. “My latest pieces attempt to reflect the systems, beauty, and complexity of the natural world, or at least highlight an aspect of it. I will never get even close to achieving that kind of perfection, but it’s a worthy pursuit.”