Canadian - Toronto, Canada

Olaf Schneider is a painter from the Toronto area who is widely regarded as one of the acknowledged leaders in mural painting in Canada. Olaf’s training has been thorough and exceptional, having been schooled at the Ontario College of Art and mentored by some of the world’s leading billboard painters. Major galleries in Toronto, throughout North America, and Europe have exhibited Olaf’s work, including the Louvré and Cannes in France, as well as galleries in Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, Napa Valley, Vermont, and Virginia, among others.

Olaf's automotive works have been on display at Formula One races in Montreal and Indianapolis. He is a member of the prestigious Oil Painters of America and has won numerous awards and honors. He has received top honors in International Artist Magazine, Interior Design Show, Ducks Unlimited Canada, and Mercedes Benz Canada, to name a few.

Olaf’s philosophy is that art is a celebration of life, and the making of art is an expression of sacred spiritual discipline. If a painting could, for a moment, capture the attention and awareness of the viewer through visual harmony, carry on a dialogue, and bring the viewer beyond a momentary concern for the past or future to a timeless state free from thought and self-consciousness, then the work has approached the realm of art, the realm of life.

The driving force that helps and encourages Olaf's work comes from the love and support of his wife Tracey. Olaf’s objective as an artist is to remain an amateur. “In the mind of an expert, there are few possibilities. In the mind of an amateur there are endless possibilities,” says Olaf. “I am constantly in search of more of the elements of nature that have inspired me in the past, thus continuing the cycle of inspiration and creation.”

Olaf has been featured in publications including International Artist Magazine 2008, International Artist Magazine 2007, and Brushworks 2008.