Frank Olt's abstract works cross over between a variety of media and unusual processes encompassing elements in linen, wood, ceramic, linen, encaustic, and oil. Aspects of wrapping, built out from finely constructed surfaces, ingeniously worked through repeated applications, scrapings, abrasions, and re-applications of pigment, define an oeuvre which is without direct comparison. The aesthetic sources are rooted in a love for abstract traditions of the New York School.

Olt works both in ceramic, which was his initial emphasis, and painting, and sustaining a wide-ranging body of work that infuses both each media with aspects of the other, introducing an array of unexpected possibilities. The uniting thread is the recurrent use of heat, be it the firing of glazed components, or the hot wax used in encaustic. Time too is a constant, since the results arise out of repeated engagement and the tension produced by the imbedding, or removal, of underlying imagery.

Frank Olt, b. 1955 in N.Y., began his career with an artist in residency studio program at the legendary P.S. One, now part of the Museum of Modern Art. In the early stages of his career he participated in numerous group shows, including the Detective Show curated by John Feckner and also including Gordon Matta Clark, Bertoldi, Artschwager, etc.. He subsequently received commissions for his work in ceramic for the New York City Arts in Transit program which was recently exhibited at N.Y.'s Paine Weber Gallery. Olt has shown his work during the last decade in Korea and Japan, at Gallery Maru Sankaku Shikaku in Kyoto, Japan, and also at the Anderson Gallery in Locust Valley, N.Y; Dillon Gallery in Oyster Bay, N.Y.. This past winter, he showed in N.Y. at the Lohin- Geduld Gallery with veteran Abstract Expressionist Yvonne Thomas. His exhibition this spring at Tria Gallery will be his first New York one person exhibition, guest curated by Franklin Hill Perrell, and will be the first to focus on his works in media crossing over between ceramics and painting.