O.M. Norling
Jay Wilson paints under the pen-name O.M. Norling, a moniker borrowed from his great-great grandfather.
Jay was born in 1971. He’s the youngest of three brothers and son to a career army father and mother who put up with it all. Growing up, Jay found himself frequently adjusting to new surroundings. Six formative years of living and attending school in Germany and South Korea exposed Jay to European and Asian cultures. This mixture of influences and experiences is apparent in his works.
Recent venues include The Solarium in Decatur, GA (2018 & 2023), Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, GA (2020) as part of the ‘Once Upon a Story’ exhibit and The Bascom in Highlands, NC (2019).
Jay lives in Decatur, Georgia with his wife Amy and their three boys in a small house under the memory of a big tree.
ARTIST STATEMENT
In 1843, a young man disappeared without a trace from a modest family farm in Sweden. Seven years later, his mother received a letter postmarked from America. It was from her son, O.M. Norling. He explained that a compulsion to experience this faraway land had driven him to leave behind all that he knew.
The young man is my great-great grandfather. To put so much on the line to obey a compulsion… the audacity of this story was unnerving to me as a younger man. But now, with more years behind me, the sheer volume of life force it represents captivates and motivates me as an artist. For over a decade, I’ve signed my paintings, O.M. Norling.
With pencil, brush and oil paint, I construct eccentric compositions made up of animals, objects and furniture that all echo another time. They are beautiful, dark and humorous stories about the human experience.
Setting Out For the Absurd and Majestic, Oil on canvas, 96 x 60 in.
Subjugation of the Hat Box, Oil on canvas, 64 x 96 in.
Torn Between What the Hearts Wants and a Life of High-Minded Pursuits, Oil on canvas, 66 x 96 in.
Artifacts of a Splendid Fate, Oil on canvas, 60 x 48 in.
A Recluse, The Journey, and a Curious Game of Skill and Chance, Oil on canvas, 120 x 126 in. (detail shot)
The Referent, the Refraction and a Creature of Insubstantiality, Oil on canvas, 60 x 60 in.