Ah, beautiful little sandwiches of paper, paint and found images! Today I’m talking to Austin based artist Xochi Solis. We’ve worked on a few projects together but we’ve only communicated through email, so I was very excited to hear her voice and get to know her a little better. It worked! You’ll notice throughout the post I’ve put the titles of each piece… thanks to a little tidbit I learned during the speed round. Oh, the speed round… such a wonderful source of information. Alright, you can listen right up there under “she sings hymns out of tune”, or you can subscribe on iTunes. Let’s kick things off with a few of my favorite pieces of Xochi’s:
Her work makes me want to make things. I want to find paper, flip through old books, squeeze out a few tubes of gouache and get stackin’! I was so thrilled to have Xochi as one of the artists in my book, Collage. In that book I gave all 30 artists the same starting image to do with whatever they pleased. It was a photo of my dad and uncle as kids so it was really fun for my whole family to see the amazing artwork that came back. Here’s a peek:
Love! Can you see where Dad and Uncle Bill are? And as mentioned, Xochi sweetly packed up her original piece {above} and sent it to me! It’s hanging in my living room as we speak… and so is the other piece shown right beside that photo of my dad and uncle. I had no self control so I made a collage for the book too.
Now, we also talked about her work going from paper to walls… in the form of giant installations:
Beautiful! Up next, her love of hands! Yep, she loves hands and elbows in her work. See if you can find them in these next three pieces:
Where’s Waldo… but more hand-ish. Now what kind of an artist interviewer would I be if I didn’t ask the question, “What’s your favorite color?”. Well, she had a complex answer! Sort of a peony pink/orange and an avocado/citron green. Here they are in action:
And I looooved her story about finding that green paper, hence the title of this episode! So, somehow in the excitement of talking about paper and tacos, I forgot to mention the piece she did for my Spring 2016 collection at Land of Nod. It’s so gorgeous, and surprise surprise, also includes her favorite colors:
Isn’t that lovely? My favorite thing about working on that Nod collection is having accomplished contemporary artists make gorgeous work that could hang in a nursery… or in the middle of your living room. Love.
Alright, that’s that! Thanks to Xochi for talking to me… I wish we could have shared a few tacos and margaritas {next time}; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode – and don’t forget, I’ll be drawing one name this Monday, February 29th for a $50 gift card to be used toward art at saatchiart.com… just sign up for my ‘art for your inbox’ email if you’d like to be entered; AND huge thanks to you for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend.
Thunk. That’s the sound of my heart falling on the floor in a fit of jealousy. I loved her work in your book, and these giant installations??!!!! DYING. I want to squeeze paint, too, right onto my freaking walls!!
Not normally a huge fan of collage exactly. But, these pieces did appeal to me, in fact they had a sort of confectionary quality. I liked them a lot.
Thank you for sharing.
Lorrie
i love the large wall pieces – round forms, layering and muted colours are a hit combo!
http://www.calsfieldnotes.wordpress.com
Enjoyed listening yet again! Her work is great… and those great big ones… wow!
Besides having such an awesome name, Xochi’s work is unbelievable. I love the color work and layering. Beautiful!
What a great episode Danielle and Xochi! I am so inspired by your discussion and Xoxhi’s work. I appreciate that like me, she prefers to work without a plan and makes art for art’s sake, without narrative. I’ve been feeling the itch to go back to collage….You might of pushed me over the edge here! Thank you.
yay! start cutting!
Oh. My. Gosh. I’m so inspired and in love with her large scale pieces!!!
Maybe I just need to eat breakfast, but this work makes me hungry. The sense of big happy sandwich burgers of the subconscious mind prevails and makes me want to find a restaurant that serves these pieces on a platter! Beautiful work, and love the oval orientation.. From one collage artist to another!
i completely get that… they are like delicious stacked artsy sandwiches!
One of my favorite conversations yet! Gorgeous work, and I loved the Roger Rabbit reference in regards to the installations – I totally want to dive right through them to the beautiful, trippy world that is surely beyond! Thanks, Danielle for letting us listen in on these wonderful conversations – they make my studio feel like it’s full of lively, creative friends.
Loved this podcast as always! Got me inspired to try my own hand at it…http://foxinghearts.tumblr.com/post/140292682019/inspired-by-xochi-solis-talking-on-the-latest
I seriously want to be her best friend. Or like her neighbor. I just feel like I know her after this episode!!! And her answer to her favorite color was totally something I would say. Loved it!
Love the names she chooses for each piece!
I always love when you interview collage artists and plumb their secrets! now my wheels are spinning about painting on duralar.
Also, yours is one of my favorite podcasts! I “save them” to listen to at the gym for extra motivation.
so inspiring. i loved hearing how excited she was about the green paper! i love that feeling. Also love the big big installations! wow! so fabulous… i do my watercolor blooms wet into wet, i lay down a layer of water and let it sink into the paper for a bit, then i add the blop (true measurement) of paint or ink. 😀 dr. ph martins concentrated wc ink are really great for bold color. i also bought some eye droppers for mixing my own paint and then dropping it in. ok. on and on…. xo
ooh! good tips… i’m going to try that! thanks elissa
LOVE your blog! I am listening to them out of order as I just found them a few months ago. I live in Austin and can’t believe that I haven’t met Xochi. I would love to meet her…maybe someday.
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