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Penelope Waiting by Israel Solomon |
A Spot in the Desert Night.
In the many words that could be used to describe nature and a place in the world, oasis is a rare word for a rare spot of water and growth in a place lacking both and covered in sand. It is a word that suggests a tiny spot of refreshment surrounded on all sides by desert. And with the thought of such a spot of almost unbelievable uniqueness surrounded by unforgiving wilderness, the joy and relief of finding water, of sustenance, in the starving brittle of such a place.
An oasis in a desert is what makes it rare. A pond in a land of lakes is no so special, but an oasis in a desert – that is altogether the difference between growth and mere survival, between life and death.
Israel Solomon presents an incredible exhibition of the life and growth side of things in his current show of paintings, Oasis, at Harrison Center.
Through his works, which portray a journey through a strange but beautiful world of night and color, he invites the viewer to seek out an Oasis all their own – and perhaps even find it – as he has, in this show, one painting at a time.
Landscapes, still lifes, and figures are all represented in the variety of themes that Solomon thoroughly explores. Mythologies, religions traditions and personal discoveries are all depicted along the way of the artist's dreamlike journey filled with dark wonder and vibrant visions.
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I Felt a Comforting Warmth from the Sky... by Israel Solomon |
Solomon's paintings range from small to large, and are composed from ever-changing perspectives. They are shaped variously, mostly rectangles and squares, but also circles and the diamond shape created by tilting a square 45 degrees.
To Simplify and Emphasize.
Several months ago, it was a piece from Solomon's Origami series hanging in the halls of Harrison Center that first introduced my eyes to this artist.
By folding paper in simple line and angles, a world of endless animals and shapes can appear. Solomon's painting was simple folded strips of color, bent across each other, set against a plain background of white.
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a painting by Israel Solomon from his Origami series |
The hard edge abstraction of the piece invited a personal interpretation, almost as if a Rorschach test.
One strip, of changing color, turns and twists upon itself. The resulting lines and strips of color cross and dominate and layer upon the other.
The jumble of crossing paths and tangled highways, could hint at a confusing and complex modern world. But any unease from the clash of the lines and planes upon each other are overwhelmed by Solomon's use of bright colors that create a mood of joy and celebration, not strife.
Origami, like Oasis, is a thought-provoking word. Like haiku maybe, a simple mode perhaps, but one that can reveal more complex things. We get the impression that Solomon is delving deeply in his choice of such themes.
In Oasis, Solomon limits his palette to recurring combinations of pure-feeling colors. His selections have a dynamic and explosive effect, mainly in the crossing of blue and orange. Other primary and complimentary colors are used and are present to a lesser degree – red and yellow, green and a rare use of purple. In addition are brown, pink and white, and black in the deepest shadows of the works.
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Blue Midnight Still by Israel Solomon |
The heat of orange is balanced by the cool of the blue in most all of the works. This interaction provides the dynamic engine that fires the emotive impact of the show.
Solomon has a particularly effective way of using the straight and curved lines to delineate his subjects in his spaces. His paintings are both cubist in design and expressionist in effect.
He has a way of creating real volume in space, not by using finely gradated colors, but rather with a juxtaposition of organic and irregularly shaped fields of subtle colors aside each other.
Volume is not only effectively suggested, but it reforms and dissipates in the three-dimensional space that inhabits his pictures.
Themes of the Dream.
A journey of incremental discovery is implied not only in Solomon's imagery, but in his titles, such as I Moved Toward a Large Lake..., As I Walked Forward, I Found Water..., I Walked Around a Green Island... and I Saw Planets Among The Floating Vessels.
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I Moved Toward a Large Lake... by Israel Solomon |
I Moved Toward a Large Lake... is perhaps the painting of deepest night in the show. Cascades of blue hues dominate the painting of sky and lake. A strip of distant hills in shades of green, yellow and brown are brightened by a full moon overhead. The jagged hills either protect are an obstacle to overcome, depending on the further direction of the journey.
The mystery and revelation of night is thoroughly explored in series of related works such as Midnight Still (Nos. 1 – 8) and Desert Night Still (Nos. 1-3), and also in works such as Blue Midnight Still and I began to Fall Asleep in a Cool Room...
Mythological, Religious and Sociological themes are explored in works such as Penelope Waiting, The Samaritan Picked Up The Battered, Prayer for Rain and We Listened to Them Play...
These pictures all portray Solomon's mystical nocturnal landscape. Night as nightmare and reprieve. Droughts and sins, music and prayer. Good and evil working dusk through dawn.
The three circular pieces all are have long titles, Bible verses, that all amplify and reverberate themes of deliverance, protection and nourishment, such as in Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
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Ensemble of Vessels in Green by Israel Solomon |
That prepared table, and at times sumptuous feast, is depicted in paintings such as Seven Vessels underneath the Midnight Sky, Bouquet, Honey Dew, and Mango and in two large and elaborate still lifes; Ensemble of Vessels in Red and Ensemble of Vessels in Green.
Finally, a sense of journey's end, of personal realization, even enlightenment or salvation, seems the subject of portrayal among several works, including The Night God Stopped Bleeding..., The Oasis Began to Slowly Fade..., All I Need Is You and They Walked Toward The Sun...
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They Walked Toward the Sun... by Israel Solomon |
In They Walked Toward The Sun..., the desert night has given way to dawn. The sterile sand, by morning, is revealed as a lush green lawn and a forest of trees. The burning orange is softened to pink and yellow. A couple and a child face a future bathed in light – deliverance to an oasis everywhere.
Mark Diekhoff, August 2026
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