Dustin Lee Olson is an American painter working with the the natural world. His primary subject is truth, that which is alive, and the nature and quality of its essence. This for him, lends to a style of work that is forced into a state of immediacy. He is an avid plein air painter, spending his days with the earth, examining atmosphere, form and light.
In 2008, Dustin, a North Dakota native, 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 Bay Area gallery. In 2011 Dustin made a trip to Paris, France to do a month long artist residency at the École des Beaux-Arts.
For a decade beginning in 2010, 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 often 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.
Dustin made the decision to stop working with other people's physical bodies in 2020. He felt at the time that it would be most beneficial to go outside into nature, and breathe fresh air. 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 in 2023 is being exhibited in gallerys in San Francisco, and Oakland, CA. Dustin is a member of the Plein Air Painters of Idaho, he is currenty preparing for an exhibition in Boise, Idaho that will take place in July 2023.