Dustin Lee Olson is an American painter working with the landscape of the natural world. He spends his days with the earth, examining atmosphere, form and light. He began painting as a teenager, and after being properly and justly discouraged from attempting to live as an artist, has done it anyway. In 2008, Dustin graduated cum laude from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. His work at the school was recognized as something notable by a local gallery owner, and before he had graduated he was offered a solo exhibition at a prominent local gallery.
In the decade following, Dustin worked as a tattoo artist in various San Francisco parlours, where he illustrated and tattooed all manner of images for thousands of people. His paintings were not exhibited during this time. Instead he spent his time cultivating a yoga and meditation practice and the painting work he did at the time reflected that practice. In 2014, Dustin was offered an apprenticeship to teach traditional ashtanga yoga with his teacher in Berkeley, California.
In 2020 Dustin made the decision to stop working with the public in a physical way. Painting landscapes en plein air became the next obvious and logical chapter of his life story. In the spring of 2021 Dustin began traveling and painting all over the United States. His work is currently exhibited in gallerys in San Francisco, and Oakland, CA. He is currently making 100 paintings for an exhibition in Boise, Idaho that will take place in July 2023.