GAYLORD SOLI (Dakota, USA, 1939).Mariam, 2017.Oil on canvas.Signed, dated and titled on the back.

GAYLORD SOLI (Dakota, USA, 1939).
"Mariam, 2017.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, dated and titled on the back.
Certificate of authenticity enclosed.
Size: 67 x 61 cm; 97 x 81 cm (frame).
Gaylord Soli's artistic production is imbued with a feeling of freedom and spontaneity in both image and technique. Thematically, an idea is allowed to metamorphose, expand and grow as the work is executed. The works he creates are based on his years of travels in Mongolia, Pakistan, Iran and the Amazon basin, and his lifelong fascination with primitive cultures. As the present work exemplifies, with a rich palate, he layers, sketches and textures his canvases in a unique kinship with early artistic and organic processes. His paintings show the influence of Picasso, Tamayo, Auerbach and Hans Hoffman, and are informed by a deep love of music and the spiritual.
Gaylord Soli was born in 1939 on a farm in North Dakota, shortly after his parents emigrated from Oslo, Norway. At the age of three, Gaylord's family moved to Los Angeles, California. He has made Southern California his home ever since, and currently works daily in his studio in Orang County. Much of Gaylord's early years were spent on adventures around the world. These missions ranged from camera safaris to the Kalahari Desert in Africa, anthropological research on the native tribes of the Amazon River, studies of the Mayan ruins of Chitchen Itza on the Yukatan Peninsula, and the ancient world of Alexander the Great from Syria to Mongolia. All of these places and experiences have had a causal effect leading to the exotic overtones, the romantic spirit and, at times, a primitive quintessence found in Gaylord's paintings. Gaylord himself is quoted as acknowledging the profound influence these early experiences have on his art: "I have been fortunate to have travelled extensively around the world. This has allowed me to explore and experience primitive cultures. I think my art reflects these experiences. Having built a series of successful businesses around his passion for art and design, Gaylord Soli founded Clearwater Publishing in the 1980s and began producing high quality screen prints for fine artists such as Ivan Earl, Richard Diebenkorn, Mel Ramos and Peter Max.