Curator's Biography

Thomas Solomon is owner and director of Thomas Solomon Gallery in Los Angeles.

Solomon has flourished in many different types of art spaces, in Museums, galleries, abandoned buildings and other non-art venues. He was director and Chief Curator of White Columns, and alternative, non-profit art space in New York City from 1982 to 1985, and then moved to Los Angeles in 1986. He served as owner and Director of Thomas Solomon’s Garage (in a two-car garage) in Los Angeles from 1987 to 1996, working with local and international artists from many different generations, including Robert Barry, Sol LeWitt, Franz Ackermann, and Jorge Pardo. He has also curated numerous museum exhibitions throughout the world. While serving from 1999 to 2001 as Administrator and Curator of the Peter and Eileen Norton Museum Donations Program, he devised and executed a diverse program for the Norton collection that has since donated more than 1000 works of art to 34 worldwide museums. In 2001 Solomon instigated a series of curatorial projects in hotel rooms throughout Los Angeles; these Solo Projects featured single works by artists such as Gordon Matta Clark, Andy Warhol, and Kurt Schwitters. Each exhibition presented a seminal artwork in a non-art space.

In 2002, Solomon curated “Beyond Boundaries: Bay Area Art of the 1970s,” for the Pasadena Museum of California Art. It was a show of Seventies conceptual art of the Bay area: Howard Fried, Tom Marrioni, Paul Kos, Terry Fox, Jim Melchert, Lynn Hershman, Tony Labat and David Ireland.

In 2004 Solomon started another LA gallery in a garage space also called 'Solo Projects,' continuing the idea of focusing on one work of art,  shifting later to include more works from each artist, such as drawings by Lee Lozano from the 1960s, Marcel Broodthaers from 1975, and Joe Zucker drawings from the 1970s.

Solomon moved to Chinatown in 2006 to Rental Gallery and did four exhibitions, one sculpture show called "Material Space," combining artists from different generations, such as Fred Sandback, Alan Saret, John Chamberlain, Michael Gonzales, and Krysten Cunningham. It was a drawing show disguised as a sculpture show. He followed with an sculpture show disguised as a photography show, titled ‘Interventions,’ which included artists Robert Smithson, Gilbert and George, Bas Van Ader, to name a few. Gordon Matta-Clark drawings from the early 70s was the next exhibition, followed by a one-person photography show by Los Angeles artist Eve Fowler.

Thomas Solomon and Cary Brooks Oken of Aardvark Letterpress launched Aardvark Letterpress Editions (ALE), with a Letterpress collaborative edition project between Los Angeles artist Karen Kimmel and Creative Growth, a non-profit art studio and gallery in Oakland, California. The sales of this unique three-part edition go to benefit Creative Growth Art Center. The second ALE edition is by Los Angeles artist Greg Colson, and more information on both these pieces can be seen under Editions on this site.

In 2007, Solomon was hired to curate LA25 by Skadden & Arps, an international law firm interested in supporting the arts in Los Angeles. LA25 celebrates 25 emerging artist’s from Los Angeles in a three-part exhibition at the law firm. Skadden also shows their support by acquiring work from each artist for the firm’s collection. All 25 artists shown at Skadden as a part of LA25 will be curated by Solomon into an exhibition at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) in Oct./Nov 2008.

Solomon is now entering in on a unique opportunity in 2008 to join forces with three young galleries, two from Los Angeles: China Art Objects and Sister, as well as Peres Projects from LA/NY/Berlin, in a collaborative space called Cottage Home. The large space (4000 sq. ft.) in Chinatown, formerly a movie theater, will house rotating shows by each gallery and one collaborative group show per year.