SOL: Solo Exhibition by Tanza | Opening Reception

I am thrilled to announce that my first solo show will take place this July at Strut SF. I will be showcasing a selection of my latest works, including my Self Portrait in Totality and Intimacy Studies series.

These paintings represent different mental and physical states, captured in situ. They capture problems both personal and global abstracted to their core essence, where free-association knits threads both literal and metaphorical. Empathogenic, they deal in the world of emotions, those places where mind, body, and spirit meet. In moments when my mind can't make sense of what I'm feeling, I have to put my soul to work to translate.

The inner life of a body caught in the crosshairs of oppressive, colonial systems is marked by ambiguous grief, cognitive dissonance, looming threats of violence, and apocalyptic futures. Faced with intersectional crosshairs, I’ve found that the canvas is a more reliable mirror. Inevitably, I find myself creating intense, emotionally confrontational imagery featuring distorted figures, states of matter, and biomimicry. My paintings are felt as much as they are seen; they prompt an immediate, visceral response from the viewer. The othering gaze shifts and we find emotional resonance. Through our differences, love is love, fear is fear, and red is our blood

Join us on Friday, July 5th from 8pm to 10pm to celebrate the opening of Sol. Enjoy the Castro Art Walk, then stop by for light refreshments. I will be selling a limited run of prints.

About the Artist

Tanza J. Solis is a multidisciplinary artist who specializes in visual storytelling. His intense, emotionally confrontational paintings draw inspiration from the fields of natural sciences, psychology, and spiritualism; these empathogenic images serve as a translation of the fraught internal experience of a body caught in the oppressive crosshairs of colonial power structures. These explorations are necessarily informed by his experience as a queer, transgender man of the Filipino diaspora. He deals largely in figurative painting while sustaining an exploratory practice that includes comics, writing, and fiber arts. Tanza received his B.A. in Art Practice at Stanford University, matriculating with Interdisciplinary Honors in the Arts. His work has been showcased at Brea Gallery’s Made in California, and he has twice been featured in Kearny Street Workshop’s emerging artist showcase APAture – in 2022 for Comics and Illustration and in 2023 for Fine Art. He currently resides in the SF Bay Area and works at California College of the Arts. SOL, on view at Strut SF in July 2024, is his first solo exhibit.