"Olga Lah | Lucent Shifts"

Olga Lah is a second-generation Korean-American, born and raised in the Los Angeles area. She now resides in Long Beach, California. She received a double B.A. in Studio Art and Art History from the University of California at Riverside. She also received an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. Her interest in the relationship between theology and art led her to an art practice exploring these themes in site-specific installations and sculpture. She has exhibited extensively including at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles; Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance; and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, The Korea Times, LA Weekly, OC Weekly, KCET Artbound, and Los Angeles Magazine. Her awards include an Artist Fellowship with the Arts Council for Long Beach, the Korea Arts Foundation of America Biennial Award, and the Goldman Fellowship for residency at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program.

Image: Olga Lah standing in front of one of her art installations, Propagate, 2012, specimen container lids.

Lucent Shifts is a site-specific installation made up of discarded material—hundreds of sheets of silver reflective plastic. The work ascends across the space, creating an illusion of floating midair. The surface appears active as the material mirrors any objects or figures that pass closely by. The circular impressed pattern makes the work glisten. The installation intends to be a transcendent experience that interrupts ordinary space. The work shifts from high to low to back down again. The movement points to a desire to transfer the viewer from the everyday to encountering something uplifting. It in turn invites an internal shift that may alter one’s perspective of our everyday surroundings.

Olga Lah. Lucent Shifts (detail), 2017. reflective plastic. Courtesy of the artist.