Ken Solomon

LOOKING DOWN FROM ABOVE – 33.75434 N 118.21113 W

2013
watercolor on paperboard
15 1/2 x 30 1/4 inches

9 panels, 7 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches each

A skilled juxtaposition of the traditional medium of watercolor with the imagery of the digital age characterizes the work of Ken Solomon. The satellite view – a uniquely modern view of the earth available to anyone with an internet connection – is the subject of Solomon’s nine-panel work Looking Down from Above – 33.75434 N 118.21113 W. Not only does the work emphasize our ability to view detailed topographical information about distant locations, but it also hints at the more sinister aspect of surveillance. A shipping yard full of containers and the front part of a ship are visible as unsettling, anonymous evidence of the massive amounts of goods that move around the world every day. Solomon has been included in group exhibitions at the Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo; Portland Museum of Art; The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, New York; the FLAG Art Foundation, New York; and the Brooklyn Museum of Art; among others. In 2005, a group of Solomon’s stamp drawings entered the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.