Jack Solomon’s Grand Exhibition at TSL in Hudson

 

.

                       

My friend Jack at the opening of his exhibition “POTPOURRI – SEVEN DECADES OF PAINTING”

.

On March 14, 2026 I attended Jack’s wonderful exhibition at TSL (Time and Space, Limited) in Hudson showing his life’s work. Up to now, though. Even though he has turned 95, his drive to create is undiminished, something you find out when you talk to him.

It is no exaggeration to call this opening a historical event of the town, even of the nation, for the large community of contemporary arts lovers. The crowd was huuge.

At times it was difficult to make your way to the painting you were attracted to, either because you were being stopped by friends or because of the sheer difficulty of meandering around inspired gesticulating groups of people. My ability to do small talk was tested by many people whose names were no longer in my upper vestibule.

TSL, at one point calling him an “elder statesman of art,” announced the event in the following way:

“Time and Space Limited in Hudson NY is honored to present D Jack Solomon – Potpourri- Seven Decades of Painting. This is an extraordinary opportunity to view select pieces from the oeuvre of this elder statesman of art in visual conversation with each other. Solomon’s work is characterized by whimsical and often humorous content, featuring appropriated images from popular culture and fine art sources, bolstered by a strong compositional gestalt. Examples from his intense period of minimalist color grids done during the mid 60’s -70’s make an appearance as well, having stayed as a stylistic feature in the paintings throughout his long career.

“His process has been founded in collage since the mid 1990’s, through joining and juxtaposing areas of decorative pattern and architectonic material, and in contrasting modulated color fields to floating comic book figures. A resulting composite is either a mash up of cultural symbols or is suggestive of stream of consciousness narrative. Recurring elements include the circular motif or mandala, the minimalist grid, constructivist planar organization, bold shape contrast, and pattern.”

For people who happen to live in the area of the Hudson Valley and the Berkshires: The exhibition is on view March 14 – April 12, 2026.  
.

What is TSL?  Following the  “History” tab on the organization’s website, we find the following information:

“Time & Space Limited Theatre Company: Since its inception in 1973, Time & Space Limited has broken the boundaries of conventional theater, transcending the confines of narrative and integrating dance, visual art, technology, language and sound. The TSL ensemble performed in both traditional and alternative spaces in NYC such as La Mama E.T.C., Merce Cunningham Studio, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt Design Museum.”

Here are a few pictures I took from this amazing range of paintings. They are in no particular order, except the one at the very bottom is a very early one. Present in this is already the whimsical element that always reminds me of Paul Klee.  In later paintings figurative elements, often parts of the iconography of American cartoons, are mixed with fields of texture and playful abstract compositions. As I’m trailing him just by 10 years, this all comes across to me like quotations from several decades of art history. (Jack has counted them: the number, incredibly, is seven). In fact, Jack has been influential to several generations of artists who are now well recognized on their own. Some traveled some distances to be there with their mentor.
.

.

.

This entry was posted in Blog. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


The Alliance of Independent Authors - Author Member