Son of the Brush

Tim Olsen, art dealer, is the son of arguably Australia's most famous living painter, John Olsen. Lauded by Sir Alistair McAlpine and Robert Hughes, honored by an OBE, legendary for an epic personality and known as a bravura host of the longest, wildest whiskey- and wine-soaked feasts in local bohemian legend, the father cast a long shadow over the son.

For Tim the only way through has been into the belly of the beast, forging his identity in the very centre of the art world his father dominated and subjecting himself to all of the cliches, excesses and odd adventures of the art dealer as a young man.

Addiction, obsession, controversy, desire, divorce, death, feuds, rivalry, redemption and lunch, always lunch, tell the story of a man attempting a self-made life in a landscape painted long before he was born.

'In this book I wish to reflect, not only on my own experiences in life; the struggles to live life fully and emerge complete from under the shadow of a famous father. I'm proud to call myself (as artist Margaret Olley described herself, 40 years sober) a non-practicing alcoholic. I cherish as a miracle what I was able to achieve having lived in such a contradictory and confused state of mind; a beautiful son, a reconciled relationship with my father, running one of Australia's foremost commercial art galleries and friends that I can rely on.'

This is a memoir that exposes the shenanigans and trickery, the surrealism and turbulence of an upbringing in the magnificent and legendary art world, a world changing with each generation and each show.

Tim Olsen is one of Australia's most recognized and respected art identities and successful gallery owners. Son of Australia's national living treasure, artist Dr John Olsen, A.O. O.B.E., Olsen was born into a life of modern and contemporary art.

He established his own Gallery in 1993, which has rapidly expanded to become one of Sydney's leading galleries today, marking his contribution and commitment to the Australian art scene. He not only has supported the careers of many of Australia's leading established artists but also has nurtured the creative lives of many emerging artists who can presently include themselves as being very much part of the art establishment today.

Tim has been a foundation member of the AGNSW for over 15 years and is dedicated to its restoration department and also a major donor and benefactor to the MCA. He has been a patron of the King's School Art Prize for over twenty-five years and since 2000, sponsored the annual Tim Olsen Drawing Prize at UNSW, School of art and design. He is on the foundation board of the University of New South Wales, and on the board of the National Art School in East Sydney.