Spotlight: Nellie King Solomon

Nellie King Solomon says, "Art chooses you, you don't choose art."

Initially drawn to architecture, she studied at Cooper Union, then worked in architecture in Barcelona and New York. She is now known for large paintings created with her own handmade tools on heavy mill Mylar.

She started by using the lid of a gesso jar to stamp a dot; the dot was to slow her down, to represent stillness rather than the movement of a brushstroke. Following her experience in Europe and New York, and her return to California, Solomon knew she wanted to focus on the wilderness, environment, and values of the West.

Initially creating pieces made from plaster that she called "misbehaving architecture," in which a wall would erupt and buckle, she shifted to paint to explore these spatial disturbances. The simple gesture of the dot grew into large canvases, such as Treasure Island Westbound, which began with one dot from the head of a pin and became an 8' x 12' landscape in her Great West series.

In her artist statement, Solomon says, "The paintings are experiences of the great western landscapes, interior and exterior terrain, the shock of unabsorbed events. California is a place where we are caught off guard, a place of gambling, chance, and change. I paint it."

She works in a studio in the Hunter's Point area of San Francisco.

From Glance, 2003

Born 1971, San Francisco

CCA degree:
MFA 2001, painting and drawing

Other education:
BFA 1995, General Fine Arts, UC Santa Cruz; architecture studies, Cooper Union

Influences at CCA:
Kim Anno, Larry Sultan, John Zurier, Linda Geary, Mary Snowden, Steve Beal, Sam Tatchalian, Cris Brown

Website:
nelliekingsolomon.com