Judith Solomon

Artist Info

Biography

Education: School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Boston, Massachusetts Massachusetts College of Art Carnegie Institute of Technology/Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bachelor of Science

Style

"Judith Solomon's accomplished still lifes contrast order with potential chaos. Her arrangements of china and fruit, arrayed on white linens and offset by the decorative brocades of wallpaper, hint at a world both elite and conventional. Tea services symbolize an observance of public commitments and a certain generosity, but also promise exemplary behavior. Solomon's compositions, however, and the luscious fruit she places in fragile containers, hint at repressed passions or emotional needs that proper decorum strives to tame. What a contrast these warm colors strike against the chilly crystal, the delicate white china, the reflective grays of the teakettles and shimmering serving trays. To emphasize this contrast, she takes perspective that are often skewed, exaggerated, and seen from above. The teapot becomes a looming tower, the stacked teacups and saucers seem to teeter. Solomon crops her subjects as needed. Though she brings her work to a strong level of finish, it's clear that her underlying process is a painterly, gestural one. She takes full advantage of the slow drying times and malleability of oils." Shawn Hill, Art New England, Oct/Nov 2009

Statement

“Tell the truth, but tell it slant.” (Dickenson) I am a painter of light and memory. Early morning sun, streaming through my kitchen window onto long-familiar childhood tableware, produces in me an almost physical charge that triggers memory. Steeped in family history, I paint expansive still life of my mother’s silver services and china mixed with my own things, exploring the play of old and new, their inherent complexities, their reflection of life and, perhaps most importantly, their capacity for personal revelation. Distortions and the effect of light on reflected and transparent surfaces are especially alluring. I may crop images to alter the perspective, losing the bigger picture, and teasing the viewer’s vision with a hint of what is out of sight. This shifting of space and scale feels like a dance: a game of hide and seek, testing the excitement of the glitter against the safety and warmth of the hidden, danger verses sanctuary.

Honors

Solo Exhibitions: “In Perspective” Copley Society of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, 2009 Selected Juried Exhibitions: “Either/Or” Union Street Gallery, Chicago Heights, Illinois, 2010 “Wanderlust” Copley Society of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, 2010 “A Community of Artists 2010” Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, Massachusetts, 2010 “Red” Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2009 “Shimmer” Copley Society of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, 2009 “Quench” Copley Society of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, 2008 “Equinox” Copley Society of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, 2007 “Patrons’ Choice” Copley Society of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, 2007, 2008, 2009 “Copley Edge” Copley Society of Art off-site exhibition St. Botolph Club, Boston, Massachusetts, 2007 “Emerald” Copley Society of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, 2007 Awards: First Prize, Cambridge Art Association: Red Cambridge Art Association, 2009 Second Juror’s Choice Award, Summer Member’s Show: Shimmer Copley Society of Art 2009 Copley Artist Status, Copley Society of Art, 2008 Third Juror’s Choice Award, Summer Member’s Show: Quench Copley Society of Art 2008 Director’s Award, New Members Show, Copley Society of Art 2007 Will & Elena Barnet Painting Award, SMFA 1995

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