Forrest Solis Bio
Born in Houston, Texas in 1979, Forrest Solis grew up in a Chicago suburb and attended the Chicago Academy of the Arts high school. Solis received her B.F.A. in 2001 from the Kansas City Art Institute and a M.F.A. in 2003 from Indiana University. While studying at Indiana University, she received the prestigious Dedalus Foundation Master of Fine Arts Fellowship. Solis taught as Assistant Professor of Art at DePauw University, Indiana, until 2006 and is currently an Associate Professor of Art at Arizona State University in Phoenix.
Solis' paintings have been exhibited in numerous locations throughout the United States and have been reproduced and reviews in several publications including "American Art Collector", "Arts + Culture Magazine", "Direct Art", and "Studio Visit". Paintings by Forrest Solis are in Kinsey Institute permanent collection and the Newt Walker collection, among others.
"It takes an object, a quirky, bizarre little thing, to inspire me to paint. For me, these objects; often childhood memorabilia, are emblematic of the complex nature of being a woman. Through self-portraiture, I strive to understand and make sense of numerous personal and political contradictions. With this, I play many roles: the child, the adolescent, the young adult, the woman, and the mother. The time and space is psychological: it is formed of broken childhood memories and adult desires where the past, present, and future collide. I am interested in this collision; not only in content, but also in form. I fragment the picture plane and create simultaneous realities: one of graphic early 20th century children's storybook lessons, and one that is classically rendered. The graphic images are bright and sweet, but combined with the text and the figure, they underlie a darker, more complex message. The uncanny, according to Freud, arouses the initial feelings of fright or terror before revealing a sense of comfort in familiarity. I suggest the reverse; that our nostalgia for simpler times belies our horror; simultaneously attracting and repelling."
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