Gemma Solà Sotos was born in 1993 in Barcelona, Spain and currently lives and works in Vienna, Austria. She studied between 2014 and 2018 at the University of Barcelona to obtain a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts. In 2018 she moved to Munich, Germany, to continue her education at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, in the class of Gregor Hildebrandt. She graduated in February 2024 and currently lives and works between Vienna, Munich and Barcelona.
In her work, the canvas becomes a space for revision and exploration of a variety of topics of the contemporary subject, connecting it with a specific space and its symbols. Reality and fiction, the natural and the artificial, the representation of the self or the irruption of thoughts or state of mind through social media are part of the themes in which Solà is interested, reviewing them with sometimes humor, irony, or a heavy seriousness.
Without starting from a pre-established idea and using acrylic, airbrush, oil pastel and cheerful colors with a naive style, painting becomes a medium that conveys what is perceived from both physical and virtual reality. The pictorial elements and how they act as emotional triggers of memories play a major role. Through abstraction and a new interaction on the canvas, they lose their original context and open up a new narrative.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Dream Journeys, The Space City. Group show. 07.09.2024 – 26.10.2024. Hamburg
Red Sunset, IMGallery. Group show. 29.06.2024 – 04.08.2024. Guangzhou, China
Backyard archive x Tassilo Usner. 22.06.2024 – tba. Group show. Vienna
Tap in Tune, Nina Mielcarczyk. Group show. 08.06.2024 – 20.07.2024, Leipzig
There's a Tear In My Beer, AdBK. Diploma exhibition. 08.02.24 – 13.02.24, Munich
Jahresgaben, Kunstverein Augsburg. Group show. 10.12.23 – 28.01.24, Augsburg
Studio Talks, ARTCO. Group show. 04.08. 23 – 04.09.23, Berlin
Fabulierende Objekte, Galleria Alberi. Group show. 26.08.2022 – 27.09.2022, Vienna
Steine auf der Laufwahn, Urban Space. Group Show. 01.06.2021 – 01.07.2021, Munich
BLICK ZURÜCK NACH VORN, Galerie Klüser. Group show. 11.03.2021 – 22.05.2021, Munich
To the land, Perlacher Forst. Group show. 01.08.2021 – 01.09.2021, Munich
Galerie U 108. Group show. 2020, Munich
Der River, Baumwollspinnerei. Group show. 21.02.2020 - 04.04.2020, Leipzig
Let’s go home and watch Harry Potter, Louandlouise Gallery. Duo show with Erik Esso. 2020, Munich
Annual Exhibition Academy of Fine Arts Munich, AdBK. Group show. 2020, Munich
Contactes. Art Nou Primera Visió. M10 Space. 2019, Barcelona
I don’t like crack jokes anymore, AdBK. Duo show with Erik Esso. 2019, Munich
Kalaschnikow, Galerie Kalaschnikow. Group show. 2019, Munich
Eix vital a les Naus Bessones, Llum Barcelona Poblenou. Group show. 2019, Barcelona
Sense Títol, Universitat de Barcelona - Facultat de Belles Arts. Final work exhibition. 2018, Barcelona
Fleeting, AdBK. Group show. 2018, Munich
Academix, La Virreina Centre de la Imatge. Group show. 2018, Barcelona
Béns pel Bé, CREA space. Group show. 2017, Barcelona
FAIRS
Positions Berlin – Academy Positions. 12.09.2024 – 15.09.2024. Berlin, Germany
Enter Art Fair with ARTCO Gallery. 29.08.2024 – 01.09.2024. Copenhagen, Denmark
EDUCATION
Diploma of Fine Arts at the academy of fine arts Munich at Prof. Gregor Hildebrandt, 2018 – 2024. Munich, Germany
Bachelor of Fine Arts at Universitat de Barcelona, 2014 – 2018. Barcelona, Spain
PRICES / SCOLARSHIPS
HEUSSEN Perspectives. Young Artist Award in cooperation HEUSSEN Law and CAA Berlin, October 2024
Jubiläums-Stipendien-Stiftung der Landeshauptstadt München, July 2020
College graduation in Fine Arts. Final thesis grade: 9.4/10. Publishedin CRAI (Centre de Recerca per l’Aprenentatge i la Investigació / Resource Cen-ter for Learning and Research), June 2018
Akademie der Bildenden Künste München,Erasmus+ scholarship, October 2017 – February 2018
PRESS / INTERVIEWS
González, Alexandra. October 2019. Eine Klasse für sich. WeltKunst. Das kunst
Magazine der Zeit. p. 13-23
Interview with Malte Kaltenbrünner, Studio Talks. January 2023.