Top left cluster: In Xochi's Studio, Photography by Adrienne Breaux; Portrait of Xochi Solis by Lily Brooks.
Top Right Clockwise: I wasn't born to follow, 2014 (detail);
Uprise Norwood, photograph by Sam Teich;
Look into the sky, 2013;
Her eyes a blue million miles, 2014 (detail);
In the Artist's Studio;
Why walk on the moon when you can fly to the sun, 2014.
Reflections on mood and emotional states, integrated with an exploration of material and color, are central to my current artistic practice. Each work is a construction beginning with paint, followed by a collection of materials including: hand-dyed paper, vinyl, plastic, cork and images from books and magazines. Layering these resources together creates a greater range of depth and shadow that allows each composition to increase in complexity as the stack of visual information grows. I begin my process of assembly by observing organic forms found in the everyday, such as pebbles, plant leaves, clouds and the curves of the human body. In reference to these observations I establish a method where each layer is contingent on the previous and additional layers of paint on clear plastic film are incorporated into the stack. For me, the repeated act of layering is a meditation on shape and form, leading to a greater awareness of the visual intricacies found in my immediate environment. By intentionally limiting my process to easily attainable materials and simple shapes, I am able to explore the versatility and endless complexities of the organic form and the gestural mark. I find great satisfaction in exploring how collaged images can substitute surfaces and objects within the two-dimensional plane, and through my technique, am able to provide a textural experience beyond the painted surface. As my work develops, I am increasingly interested in the correlations among formulas of color, texture and shape and what they evoke in the viewer.
Xochi Solis is an artist living and working in Austin, TX. She received her B.F.A. in Studio Art from the University of Texas in 2005 where she gained experience and insight by a semester abroad in Tuscany, as well as a semester in Mexico City. In 2013, Solis exhibited a solo exhibition—Rivers of our Vision—at Lawndale Art Center in Houston, TX and was a resident artist at Arquetopia in Oaxaca, Mexico to learn and work with natural pigments. She is one of 30 artists featured in the book Collage: Contemporary Artists Hunt and Gather, Cut and Paste, Mash Up and Transform (Chronicle Books, 2014). Her group exhibitions include Flatland at The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, TX and the 2008 edition of New Art in Austin: 20 to Watch at the Austin Museum of Art. In addition to her studio practice, she is the Director of Public Programming at the Visual Arts Center, University of Texas at Austin and is currently an active member of MASS Gallery, a collectively run project space in East Austin.
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http://www.upriseart.com/artist/64