“. . . A family friend placed me into a basin of water and rose pedals and said ‘This is a felicitous experience’ and I was named Felicia Suzanne.  Unlike my sister, who was saying words before she was one, I rarely spoke.  My father remembers being surprised when I had my first conversation with him when I was 5 or 6.  My early communication mostly consisted of funny noises and the slamming of doors.” —Felicia Olin

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A strategy for selling art is floating around that suggests that it is how interesting the artist seems, as opposed to their work, that sells work.  And several artists, gallerists & dealers have confirmed with me that when you talk to a collector about the work they buy, they almost always talk about the artists, not the art.  Interesting notion.  Social media already makes it possible for people to create a persona that fulfills any role they choose to put out into the world.  Does selling art mean that we now have to invent new artistic personas for buyers to parallel those romanticized versions we already paint for our alumni publications and holiday newsletters?  It is all too much some days.

I read the bio of today’s AAAD Artist of the Day, painter Felicia Olin, before I saw her work.  I was so enamored of the way she put herself out into the world, that I wanted to like her work.  And, I do.  I have a soft spot for portraiture and texture.  I also appreciate less “artspeak” in favor of “realspeak”.  I am entertained by the menagerie of characters created –stories easily inhabiting the shadowed corners of our dreams.  Intrigued, I am, by both the art and the truth which she speaks about herself and her work.

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Explore the characters of today’s AAAD Artist of the Day, Felicia Olin,
& don’t forget to read the rest of that bio.

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