Exhibition
Gordon Solomon — Life on the Colony marked a significant departure for the artist whose practice to date has been an inquiry into the maritime heritage of his Caymanian forefathers.
Prompted by a sense of disillusionment and of growing social division within his community, Solomon created a series of 18 works that spoke to a variety of social issues ranging from the use of GMO mosquitoes to beach access, politics, birthrights, seaman’s benefits, environmental concerns, mental and physical health issues, immigration, and economics.
Created as a visual diary, these illustrations of daily life draw inspiration from debates on a local talk show, newspaper extracts, conversations the artist had, or comments he overheard in the street. They depicted a country in the process of rapid change — one that is grappling with prosperity and all its challenges: the “joy rides and downsides” of life on an overseas territory.
About the Artist
Gordon Solomon
b. 1977
Gordon Solomon is a painter and musician born in George Town, Grand Cayman, who studied Fine Art at the University of Superior Art, Cuba. He is a member of the Native Sons artists collective and his work is primarily concerned with Caymanian heritage, which he captures in a variety of visual styles, adopting an aesthetic that draws equally from Cubism, Pointillism, and Realism. Solomon has exhibited extensively both in the Cayman Islands and overseas and has received several public mural commissions. Solomon’s work can be found in the public collections of the Cayman Islands National Archive, the Cayman Islands National Museum, and the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands. Exhibitions at NGCI include: 21st Century Cayman (2010), Founded Upon the Seas (2012), Metamorphoses (2014), All Access (2015), tIDal Shift: Explorations of Identity in Contemporary Caymanian Art (2015), Native Sons – Twenty Years On (2016), Saltwater in their Veins (2017), Mediating Self (2017), a solo show, Gordon Solomon – Life on the Colony (2018), Cross Currents – 1st Cayman Islands Biennial (2019), Tropical Visions (2019), and Island of Women: Life at Home During our Maritime Years (2020).
