Pablo Solano
Colombian painter Pablo Solano died on July 24th at the age of 85. His career began in Paris, where he traveled with Rogelio Salmona and German Samper as an architecture student at Universidad Nacional. In Paris, Solano worked in the Le Corbusier studio. During his first European experience, he made the acquaintance of artists like Julio Le Parc ad Miró, established a friendship with Klee's biographer Willy Grohmann, and met Michel Tapié, the critic of Informalism. Yeas later Solano returned to Paris and shared a studio with Isamu Noguchi.
Solano's first solo exhibition took place in 1957, sponsored by the International Contemporary Art Gallery. Solano's work was featured in solo and group shows in Paris and other European cities, alongside artists like Soto, Fontana, Rothko, Tobey, Moore, Arp, Chillida, Miró, and Saura, among others. He also exhibited in important galleries throughout the world, such as St. Paul de Vence, in France; Edouard Loeb in Paris, New York, Brussels, Germany, Spain, Miami, and Argentina. Solano left behind writings that have been studied in the country's universities, including La ciudad perdida, Artesanías Boyacenses, La Iraca, and those he devoted to the city of Paipa, of which he was also one of the best remembered and respected Mayors.
Solano collaborated with Carlos Rojas in projects for Artesanías de Colombia. He was on several occasions a juror for the National Artists Salon, a member of Pro Arte in Bogotá, a director of the Instituto de Investigaciones Colombianas (IDEC), among many other positions.
One of the last exhibitions of Solano's work was held in 2012 at Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano's Museo de Artes Visuales in Bogotá. To read ArtNexus' review of that exhibition, go to http://www.artnexus.com/Notice_View.aspx?DocumentID=21045
