T.L. Solien: See the Sky (mid-career survey)

May 1 – July 24, 2021

Guest curated by Christopher Atkins

Curatorial Statement

The Nemeth Art Center is excited to present T. L. Solien: See the Sky, guest curated by Christopher Atkins. Solien is one
of the region’s most prominent, well-respected, and prolific artists and this compact survey of the artist’s career will be organized around overlapping themes, such literature, art, landscape and autobiography.

These themes are familiar to many artists, but Solien has a distinct Neo-Surrealist vocabulary that is accented with illustrative exaggeration, multi-colored layered collage, and a sometimes-furtive sense of humor. See the Sky includes significant paintings, sculptures, and works on paper – some of which have not been exhibited before.

From the beginning of his career until now, the landscape of the upper Midwest has left an indelible mark on Solien’s
work, “The land is flat, the space is so deep that it seems shallow, and the sense of scale is often distorted.” Landscape
is often the setting for and stage upon which Solien’s characters experience significant changes or depart on
life-changing journeys.

T.L. Solien, Artist Bio

T.L Solien, born in Fargo North Dakota in 1949, received a BA degree in Art from Moorhead State University, Moorhead MN in 1973, and an MFA in Painting and Sculpture from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1977.

Solien has been invited to participate in numerous exhibitions of National and International magnitude including, the 1983 Whitney Biennial, the 39th Biennial of American Painting at the Corcoran Museum, Washington, D.C.; Avant-Garde in the 80’s, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The American Artist as Printmaker, Brooklyn Museum NY; Images and Impressions, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN and Contemporary Drawings, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA.

Solien’s work has been visible in over 35 solo exhibitions in the last 25 years, and was the subject of a 25 -year retrospective titled, “T.L. Solien: Myths and Monsters” organized by the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison WI., as well as “Toward The Setting Sun”, organized by the Plains Museum, Fargo, ND, and traveling to the Yellowstone Museum of Art, Billings MT, and the Sheldon Museum, Lincoln, NE.

T.L. Solien has been the recipient of numerous honors, including multiple Bush Foundation and Jerome Foundation fellowships, University of Wisconsin Graduate School Research Grants, and has been named “Outstanding Alumni” at both the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Moorhead State University, MN. In 2008 Solien was awarded a fellowship from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, and in 2010 received a Wisconsin State Arts Board fellowship. In 2017 Solien was awarded a prestigious WARF named professorship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Solien is represented in numerous corporate and public collections including, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Walker Art Center, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, The Tate Museum, London, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Chase Manhattan Bank, Exxon Corporation, New York University, Indiana University Art Museum, University of Iowa Museum of Art, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND, and the Chazen Museum, Madison, WI , The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI; and the Milwaukee Museum of Art.