Insulatus
November 4, 2006- December 23, 2006
511 W 25th St
TL Solien presents large-scale mixed-media works on paper using imagery extracted from the deepest recesses of his memory as well as the pages of 19th-century classics including Melville’s Moby Dick. Coupling literary allusions with mysterious iconography, the artist delivers a deconstructive yet cohesive, deeply personal statement. These works explode with brightly-colored paper cut-outs which contrast with brooding backgrounds as the artist adeptly selects potent symbols to mix with eerie atmospheres. All the while Solien upends the narrative of the hunt for the white whale by coupling and interjecting it with episodes from his own history – parables, hang-ups, and hauntings. Other macabre tales collide in these works, largely nonfiction, such as John Hunter’s 19th-century sperm whale dissections and the spread of the plague through ship-based commerce, on so-called “death ships.”
Musing on the term “Insulatus” (in Latin “isolated” or “made into an island”) the artist uses Ahab’s ludicrous and self-destructive quest as a metaphor for the creative quest of the artist – the solitary, maddening, lifelong pursuit of one’s vision.
This is the artist’s second solo exhibition at
Luise Ross Gallery, his seventh in New York.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show| Location | map | | Gallery | Luise Ross Gallery | | Address | 511 W 25th St, #307 New York (Chelsea) NY, 10001 United States | | Phone | 212-343-2161 | | Fax | 212-343-2468 | |
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