By Eliott Grover
It wasn’t hard for Grade Solomon to decide which photograph to submit. The competition’s application explicitly called for portraits.
“It’s literally the only photograph I have of someone’s face,” Solomon, who recently graduated from the Department of Photography + Film at VCUarts, said of his entry.
Of the 2,700 submissions to this year’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, Solomon’s was selected as one of 42 finalists whose work will be displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Seeking “work that challenges traditional definitions of portraiture,” the competition’s scope appealed to the recent 2022 VCUarts alumnus.
“In a lot of my portraits, I like to obscure or not even show the person’s face,” Solomon said. Beyond his elusive compositions and masterful embrace of dark hues, his work defies the conventions of portraiture by examining non-traditional subjects. “I call a lot of my landscapes portraits because when I take a landscape, it’s more a reflection of myself. I’m injecting myself into the landscape rather than trying to represent what I’m photographing.”
The range of subjects in Solomon’s portfolio is vast––people, places, things––but the images are unified in their tone. They reflect an artist with a strong conviction in his vision.
“The theme I’ve been working on for the past couple years is this idea of violent romanticism,” Solomon said. “I’m still trying to figure out what that means, but I’ve sort of landed on it meaning that I’m viewing the world through rose-tinted shades––so much so that it’s more damaging than not. A lot of the things I photograph are things that would be considered intrusions on the quote-unquote beautiful landscape.”
Yet his images possess an undeniable, if unsettling, beauty. They recall haunting dreamscapes, which Solomon attributes to his fascination with dream logic. “There was a period of time where I was confused if something was a part of my dream or if it actually happened,” he said.
Last year, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts awarded Solomon a prestigious VMFA fellowship. This accolade, now paired with the Outwin competition, makes for an impressive record as he prepares to graduate. Reflecting on his time at VCUarts, Solomon expressed gratitude for the faculty who have nurtured his growth. “I don’t think I’d be the artist I am today if I hadn’t had professors like Justin James Reed, John Freyer, or Jon-Phillip Sheridan.”
The “Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today” exhibit will run at the National Portrait Gallery from April 30, 2022, through Feb. 26, 2023.
Lead Image: Photo by Grade Solomon.