T.L. Solien

Paintings

Works on Paper

T.L. Solien

Expressive color and imaginative imagery abound in T. L. Solien’s provocative paintings, drawings and mixed media cut-outs.  A self described artist of the “absurdist cultural critique,” Solien is concerned with the contemporary collapse of our culture.  Engaging and often paradoxical narratives are constructed with references to his Scandinavian heritage, family memories, and the art and the literature of past.  

“I have attempted to invent a personal and idiosyncratic visual language in which consideration of both the history of Abstraction, and the traditions of Figural Painting are of equal and essential concern. I stretch the boundaries of what has been considered viable source material from which to distill human narratives to include exploration into product iconography, vintage illustration, commercial animation and the drawings of children...” T.L. Solien

Born in Fargo, North Dakota in 1949, Solien earned a BFA from Moorhead State University, Moorhead Minnesota, and an MFA in Painting and Sculpture from the University of Nebraska.  He is the recipient of many honors and awards including the Whitney Biennial Exhibition (1983), and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship in Painting (2008). 

Solien’s work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions across the country and is included in public and private collections around the world.  

Selected collections include: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art; Smithsonian American Art Museum; Art Institute of Chicago; Milwaukee Art Museum; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art;  Minneapolis Institute of Art; Tate Gallery, London;  National Gallery of Australia; Singapore Art Museum, among others.

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