Plague Antenna, Prologue
“I’ve always had access to other worlds. We all do because we dream.” — Leonora Carrington
Mindy Solomon is pleased to present Jeremy Olson’s third solo exhibition at the gallery, Plague Antenna: Prologue. Continuing his exploration of the intersection between artificial intelligence and perceived reality, Olson approaches this exhibition as an extended world-building project centered on a core narrative.
“For Plague Antenna, I wanted to try something different: a longer-term world-building exercise focused around a central character, with something like an actual narrative,” Olson explains. “The narrative will be non-linear at best, prone to digressions and side quests.”
The exhibition introduces its primary figures: Meg, a youthful but harried delivery driver; her constant companion Lily, a synthetic, six-limbed feline entity with whom she communicates almost telepathically; Hector, Meg’s closest non-synthetic friend; and Lubric, Hector’s robotic, bug-headed canine companion. Small tondos depict various tools used to dispense the cartridges Meg delivers through long nights—labor driven largely by the mounting costs of maintaining Lily. The exhibition is loosely bookended by two works created in reverse chronological order: Lily’s Cradle, which presents Lily in the final stage of her gestation, and Amnesia Station, where an older Meg appears to work quietly at a menial job, Lily notably absent. Together, these works suggest a narrative arc shaped by attachment, loss, and transformation. Thematically, Olson explores synthetic intrusions into consciousness, mimetic desire, and the emerging risks of AI companionship. If we already struggle to determine whether our desires—or even our thoughts—are truly our own, what happens as those boundaries become increasingly porous?
Olson has long demonstrated an uncanny ability to imbue his painted figures with human-like presence. In Plague Antenna, maternal behaviors emerge through Meg’s relationship with Lily. Her labor to sustain Lily renders care both deeply affectionate and economically coercive, a tension that forms the emotional core of the exhibition. Around her, a small network of human and synthetic relationships functions as a kind of community, offering support within a rapidly shifting world.
As in previous exhibitions, Olson reveals not only his technical mastery as a painter but also his capacity to evoke complex emotional and psychological states, inviting viewers into a world that feels at once speculative and intimately familiar.
About Jeremy Olsen
Born in Ojai, CA; Jeremy Olson is a Brooklyn-based artist working primarily in painting, with excursions into sculpture and video. He has exhibited his work in New York, Miami, London, Hong Kong, Berlin, Baltimore, Antwerp, Melbourne, and Seoul.
Jeremy received a 2021 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Painting. Jeremy has been an artist-in-residence at Praksis Oslo in Norway, Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Nebraska, Oxbow School of Art & Artists’ Residency in Michigan, and the SVA Summer Residency in New York. Jeremy received a BFA from the University of Arizona and an MFA from NYU Steinhardt. He is represented by Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami and Unit London in the UK.
