Born in Utah and raised in southern Colorado, Nathan Solano paints extraordinary contemporary portraits of Native Americans as one of his favorite subjects.
In his forties, Solano has come to a point where he does what he wants: paint. However, that strong will is not new. After serving as an infantry sergeant in Vietnam, he attended college where rather than taking business, vocational, or courses toward a degree, Solano opted for electives in photography, ceramics, painting, and drawing. With several odd-job phases behind him as a photographer and graphic designer, Solano has evolved to a full-time fine art painter. Now a photographer of professional status, Solano haunts cattle roundups, powwows and other environmental scenes of the American West to capture visual information. Aware of the stigma of painting from photographs, Solano prefers freezing brief, allusive moments to later capture in acrylics, moments that exist for but a split second yet express life as Solano prefers to capture it - in the now.
Two elements dominate Solanos compelling paintings: light and gesture. His play with color creates a light that beams from the canvas as if tiny light bulbs were secreted underneath the paint. A sensitive instant is captured by his use of the camera rather than setting up an easel in an environment, a time consuming process in which he could never capture the same fleeting moment. Both elements - light and gesture - engender a powerful, inexplicable uniqueness to his imagery. A captivating Solano image is immediately undeniable and purports a dynamic career in the years ahead.
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