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August Issue 2006
City of Charleston Features Works by J.J. Ohlinger
The City of Charleston will present the exhibit, About Face, featuring works in watercolor and ink by J.J. Ohlinger at the City Gallery at the historic Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, SC.
Ohlinger was born in Omaha, NE, in 1970. He became interested in art at an early age, had a painting features in the Omaha newspaper when he was just seven years old, and began painting with oils by the time he was twelve.
After being offered several art scholarships, Ohlinger's family persuaded him to seriously consider art as a career. He went on to receive a BFA in Scientific Illustration from the University of Georgia. When he graduated, Ohlinger moved to San Francisco where he worked on projects with Nobel Laureate, Dr. Paul Boyer.
Ohlinger's work is included in several public collections around the country. In 1998, he moved back to South Carolina where he currently resides with his two dogs.
Ohlinger offered the following about his work: "All human beings are enchanted by faces. Within thirty minutes after being born, when our eyes can barely focus, we prefer to gaze at faces more than at any other object. This inborn fascination with the face only grows throughout our lifetime. We fall in love with people we find beautiful and are captivated by the glare of a stranger. We are intrigued by the features of the famous, and many of us spare no expense for the pursuit of the 'perfect smile'".
"One of the true joys in showing my work has been learning how others view the face," adds Ohlinger. "There are two common occurrences: either the viewer tries to mentally perceive what the missing features must look like and satisfy their need to fill-in the blanks, or they try to create a connection between the painting and someone they recognize, whether it's another person at the show or a celebrity that they feel the painting resembles."
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Office of Cultural Affairs at 843/724-7305 or at (www.ci.charleston.sc.us/oca.html).
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