Solomostry does not restrict his artistic practice only to painting, he constantly tries to broaden his horizon, techniques and surfaces depending on what and how he wants to express and represent. For this series he decided to resume a technique that he discovered and frequently used during his high school time in order to leave his tag on the ceilings of the school. Therefore he used a lighter to burn the surface of the ceiling. At the time Solomostry was struck by this very different way to leave his mark. After a few years of practice he found a way to replicate this technique on canvas and with much time and practice in his studio he is finally able to use the lighter as if it were a brush or a marker.
„ The fire can be life, as can be death, the important thing is not to get burned.“
SOLOMOSTRY, 2021.
The burnt lines have a unique texture and expression. The evaporated smoke produces soft lines and a very smooth gradient from the line to the background color, without any additional lines or borders. Solomostry literally reinterprets the term ‚sfumato‘ coined by the Italian renaissance painters in the 15th century. Given by the distance and the permanence of the flame on the canvas, as well as by the type of colors not he canvas, he can modify the character he is creating.
His research starts from the walls of the city, which have always given him the opportunity to work on large format, from the wall to the canvas he translates his experiences from the streets. Whether it is painting, shaping or burning his iconic monsters on different materials and colors, experimenting with new styles, Solomostry never forgets where he comes from.
Tania di Brita
Installation view
KOLLY GALLERY
Seefeldstrasse 52
8008 Zürich
Switzerland
julien@kollygallery.ch
+41 79 301 11 37