Oscar Pearson

Born in San Luis Obispo, California, USA, Oscar Pearson is an artist based in Seattle, WA. Pearson draws from observation, personal experiences, his symbolic imagination, and shared stories he has heard from family members and broader culture. He works with a variety of materials such as oil, charcoal, acrylic, and clay. His depiction of subjects range from tonal naturalism to chromatic hard-edge abstraction. Pearson is interested in painting’s capacity to explore the psychological, physical, and spiritual spheres. He is influenced by music, art, natural cycles, behavior/misbehavior, the relationship between innocence and experience and the play-element; a fundamental aspect of human and animal life that disrupts the monotony of existence. He considers play in the formal arrangement of his compositions and in the subject matter depicted.

Pearson began his art career in community college while working as an artist assistant for a ceramic artist. He received a BFA in Drawing and Painting from California State University Long Beach (2021). He co-founded and co-managed The Place on PCH, an arts coalition that offered and international artist residency program in Oceano, California. Pearson’s mural, “Generosity” is a part of the permanent art collection at Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, CA. He was awarded a fully funded residency at the Tropical Lab at Lasalle College of The Arts in Singapore in the summer of 2025. Pearson has exhibited in various group shows in Southern California and Seattle, WA. And recently earned his Master’s of Fine Arts degree in Drawing and Painting at The University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA. (2026)