“Ohlson’s control of color, arrived at by intuition rather than scientific theory, is always part and parcel with the compositional means he has selected at each stage of his evolution. These developments as outlined here may sound more methodical, more plotted than they actually have been. Neither he nor any other good artist educates himself to produce some final revelation of an earlier vision. Quite oppositely, at each stage the paintings have spoken for themselves on the premises which underlay their making at the time. Yet it is impossible in retrospect not to see that his preoccupations have contributed to an ongoing process and continuity.” 

- E.C. Goossen 

Excerpt from the essay for the exhibition Doug Ohlson at Bennington: Two Decades, 1962-1982, Bennington College, VT, 1982