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Exhibition | Mike Solomon: Sentient

Feb 9, 2019 — Apr 7, 2019

Two-time recipient of the prestigious the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Mike Solomon studied at the Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting in Maine (1975) and continued his studies at the Yale Summer School of Music and Art, Norfolk, Connecticut (1978) where he was influenced by artist Joan Snyder. A year later, Solomon earned his Bachelor of Arts at the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he studied with Charles Garabedian and John McCracken. Solomon earned his Master of Fine Arts from Hunter College, New York in 1989.

Throughout his career, Solomon has explored a range of subjects, styles, and concepts using various materials from traditional watercolors to acrylic gels to beeswax. Foundational to his work is his interest in transparency. Although his finished works seem to have only two dimensions, they are, in fact, composites of many layers of thin paper painted with watercolors. Each layer is infused with resin, which results in the effect of submerged color in a clear sheet of resin. Layer upon layer is added, resulting in the final form seen through a sleek polished surface of resin.

Solomon’s work is included in a number of private and public collections, including the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, and the Columbia Museum of Art.