The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild
2017 Membership Exhibition
Gallery 21, Spanish Village, Balboa Park
October 25 through November 6, 2017
Congratulations to our 1st Place Award of Excellence Winner: John Oleinik
John was awarded first place in the Guild’s 2017 Membership Exhibition for his oil painting Cathedral.
About John:
My interest in art started at a very early age. I was consistently involved in art throughout elementary school and high school years. When it came time to choose a career path and start applying to college I decided to dedicate myself to Architecture. This left very little time for any other pursuits. So fine art was set aside in pursuit of applied art (architecture). I entered Syracuse School of Architecture in 1974 and focused all of my attention on this career.
I went to my 40th high school reunion in 2014. It was the first reunion that I went to. I can't tell you how many old classmates asked me about my art career. I was embarrassed to tell each one of them that I had dropped art for a career in architecture. And each time they would respond that that was a shame. So, when I got back I decided that at sixty years of age I would give art a serious try. I do not have the luxury of time at this point in my life, so it was important to pick a medium and stick to it. It is said that it takes 10,000 hours of training to start to master a craft. If I work full-time or 2000 hours a year it will take me five years. I imagine that hand drawing architectural drawings 40 hours a week for 40 years gives me a small head start on that 10,000 hours. So, I think that by the end of 2018 I should get to some level of mastery. I will continue to work hard at my progress and we will see what happens.
In the meantime, I continue to work part time as an Architect. I currently have four projects on the boards.
Exhibitions/Awards:
John’s work ARTREE WTH COLOR CHANGING LEAVES was selected by the Port of San Diego for its 2009 Urban Tree Exhibition.
A number of his paintings were juried into the Del Mar Fair and he received several awards: 2 Honorable Mentions (2014); 1 Honorable Mention (2015); Coordinators’ Best of Show Award (2016); 1st Place for Cityscape, 1st Place for Still Life, 2nd Place for Landscape (2017).
He was also awarded Best of Show, Judges’ Choices, at the Newport Beach 52nd Annual Art Festival in 2016.
About Cathedral:
This painting is from the Roller Coaster Series. It is a view of the Giant Dipper roller coaster as seen from below looking up. This historic wooden roller coaster was built in 1925 and is one of only two left on the west coast (the other being in Santa Cruz, CA.). It captures the scene just before sunset when the upper portion of the Giant Dipper (roller coaster) is bathed in the warm glow of the late summer sun. This one point perspective is looking right down the middle support structure of the roller coaster. This central structure is reminiscent of a French Gothic Cathedral with its long central space and light cascading down from the clerestory windows above. Your eye is first attracted to the light that is hitting the structure at the top of the painting which is closest to the viewer. As the eye follows the light down from the top of the painting you are brought deeper into the painting until you arrive at the bottom of the painting where the structure is the farthest from the viewer. Following the light from top to bottom draws you deep into the painting naturally. This series is an exploration of Abstract-Photorealism.
For more information about John, please visit: John Oleinik, Art + Architecture