T.L. Solien spit biting one of the copper plates for 'Psyche: The Blue Martin' print, TGL workshop, Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New York, 1985
Gift of Kenneth Tyler 2002
Photographer: Kenneth Tyler

TL Solien was born in Fargo, North Dakota, in 1949. He is best known for his painting, which employs the Postmodern aesthetic of pastiche, blending easily recognisable symbols from the art historical canon with others taken from his own personal experience and the world around him. Solien also draws upon the Surrealist aesthetic in his work, demonstrated in the National Gallery’s prints Psyche: the blue martian and Excalibur, created at Tyler Graphics in 1985 and 1986 respectively.

Solien received his BFA from the Moorhead State University, Minnesota, in 1973 and his MFA in painting and sculpture from the University of Nebraska in 1977.
Emilie Owens

Further reading

Chronology
 
1949
Born in Fargo, North Dakota, United States of America

1973
Receives Bachelor of Arts, Moorhead State University, Minnesota

1977
Receives Masters of Fine Arts from University of Nebraska, Lincoln

1980
First solo exhibition, Fort Worth Art Center, Texas

1981
Receives Jerome Foundation and Bush Foundation grants

1982
Included in exhibition, The Bewildered Image, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota
Completes a portfolio of drypoints, Fragments of Hope, at Vermillion Editions Limited, Minneapolis
Receives Rockefeller Foundation Studio Fellowship, Paris

1983
Solo exhibition, American Center, Paris; included in Biennial exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The American Artist as Printmaker, The Brooklyn Museum, New York

1984
Included in exhibitions: Images and impressions: painters who print, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Here and Now, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina
Designs sets and costumes for The Mirror, by Leigh Dillard, performed by New Dance Ensemble, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

1985
Included in Biennial exhibition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC;
Completes edition, Psyche: the blue martin, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New York, commissioned by Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

1986
Receives McKnight Fellowship, Minnesota
Included in exhibitions: New acquisitions: works on paper, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Boston collects, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts; Saints and sinners, DeCorova Museum, Lincoln; State of the art: recent acquisitions, Plains Art Museum, Moorhead, Minnesota
Completes edition, Excalibur, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New York

1987
Included in exhibitions: Avant-Garde in the eighties, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; First artists portfolio, Chemical Bank, New York

1988
Included in exhibitions: The combination print: 1980s, New Jersey Center for the Visual Arts, Summit; First impressions, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

1989-90
Included in travelling exhibition, First impressions: early prints by forty-six contemporary artists, originating at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; included in exhibition, The 1980s: selections from the Joshua P. Smith Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

1990
Receives Bush Foundation Artists Fellowship, Minnesota City

1991
Included in exhibition, The artists among us, North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks
Solo exhibition, Des Moines Art Center, Iowa

1993-96
Teaches at University of Iowa, Iowa City

1994
Receives McKnight Mid-CareerArtist Fellowship, Minnesota

1995
Included in exhibitions: The bewildered image2, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota; Landfall Press: a survey, Milwaukee Museum of Art, Wisconsin; Printmaking in America: the collaborative presses 1960-1990, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; McKnight Fellows Exhibition, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minnesota

1999
Solo exhibition, at Evanston Art Center, Illinois
1997-present Associate Professor of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison

2005
Solo exhibition, Hollow, at Luise Ross Gallery, New York

2007
Solo exhibition, T.L. Solien Drawings: 1997-2003, at Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis

Currently lives and works in Madison, Wisconsin

Barbara Delano © Tyler Graphics Ltd., revised Kate Buckingham, 2007
This chronology provides an overview of selected biographical information, major solo and group exhibitions held within the artist's own lifetime.

Further information will be added to this site as the National Gallery proceeds with its research and documentation.

Last updated May 2013