Grade Solomon (b. 1999) is a Korean-American artist based in Ridgewood, New York.
He received his BFA in photography from VCUarts in 2022 and is pursuing his study with MATTE Institute. Solomon is currently a finalist in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and his work is on view in The Outwin: American Portraiture Today at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. Solomon’s published work has been collected by institutions such as Harvard Fine Arts Library, New York Public Library, and VCU Special Collections.
Solomon finds a paradoxical beauty in the collapse of the natural, and the decay of the industrial. His photographs are a tribute to a world in flux, where the potential for growth and resilience lies in the rubble. Themes of longing and isolation pervade his work, the images are obscured by layers of recurring dreams, and half-forgotten memories.
Road signs, electrical poles, and suburban rooftops merge into a haze of distorted reality. In the images, windows glow in iridescence, the ground mimics oil, and walls form gradients of blues and pinks. Less how they were seen and more how they were dreamt. The light and color are so manipulated, so hyperreal, his practice is more akin to painting with light than documenting with photography.
CV
•
CV •
Education
Virginia Commonwealth University, BFA, ‘22
MATTE Institute School of Photography, ‘23 - ’24
Grants & Awards
2024 Lensculture Black & White Photography Awards Finalist
2022 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Finalist
2022 David Robert McLellan Scholarship
2021 Visual Arts Fellowship, VMFA
2021 Interpretive Eye, 75th CPOY
Books & Zines
2024 Twist, Pomegranate Press
2022 Lifelong Ember Exhibition Catalog with Jack Fox, Self Published
Collected by
Harvard Fine Arts Library
VCU Special Collections
New York Public Library
William and Mary Earl Gregg Swem Library
2021 I Wandered Until the Underneaths of my Eyes Bruised, Pomegranate Press
Exhibitions
2024 Twist, Secret Riso Club, NYC
Duo Exhibitions
2022 Lifelong Ember, The Material Room with Jack Fox, Richmond, VA
2022 To Gather in Paradise, Cody gallery with Alexis Gomez, Arlington, VA
Group Exhibitions
2024 Cascade and Collide, Pomegranate Press, NYC
2022 - ‘24 The Outwin: American Portraiture Today
Touring Exhibition
2022 The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC
2023 Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL
2024 Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC
2024 Michele & Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA
2024 Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI
2022 Pamplemousse, Pamplemousse Gallery, Richmond, VA
2022 Culture II, Strada, NYC
2022 DSC, The Anderson, Richmond, VA
2021 Broome street, Strada, NYC
2019 Evoke, Gallery104, NYC
Curation
2023 Carina Haslam Art, New York Affordable Art Fair, NYC
2022 a Warehouse of Angels, Guerrilla Exhibition, VA
Publications
2025 Magic Hour II, Booooooom
2024 Exciting Photography Now, MATTE Magazine
2023 Summer of Something Special, Something Special Studios
2023 Playfulness, Balam
2022 Nothing Left But Healing, Pomegranate Press
2022 No.1, Ardent Projects
2022 Circles, Booooooom
2021 Magic Hour, Booooooom
2019 Home, Mouthwash Magazine, Issue 2
Work in Print
2024 A Picturesque New England Town’s Debt to the Right Whale, New York Times
Interviews & Features
2024 Collector Daily, “Grade Solomon, Twist”
2024 Whitewall, “Longing and isolation pervade my work”
2024 LensCulture, Twist
2024 PhMuseum
2024 Urbanautica
2023 ICP
2023 LensCulture, Lifelong Ember
2023 Hypebeast
2022 Grade Solomon et les vies qu’on n’a jamais vécues, Fisheye
2022 Grade Solomon makes the ordinary extraordinary through special light, C41
2022 Recent grad, Grade Solomon, featured in Exhibit at National Portrait Gallery, VCUarts
2022 To Gather in Paradise: Alexis Gomez & Grade Solomon, Marymount University
2022 Welcome to Strada, a New Kind of Gallery for Emerging Talent, Vogue
2021 Photographer Spotlight, Booooooom
2020 This Will Not Be Contained, New York Magazine
2020 IGNANT
2020 On Earth Magazine
2019 Suburban Nights, VSCO
2019 Grade Solomon, Art F*cks Me
2019 Milk Magazine
2019 Rental Magazine
Artist Talks
2022 Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, VA.
Lectures
2022 Book as Performance with Justin James Reed, VCUarts, Richmond, VA
2020 Let’s Talk About Night Shooting, hosted by Diasie
Selected Clients
2024 New York Times
2024 TD Bank
2024 Brooklyn Museum
2024 Welcome.JPG
2024 FANG
2023 Puma x A$AP
2023 Raya
2023 Berhana
2023 Head of State x Nike
2023 Bayonet Records
2023 Anarene Films
2023 EQT Recordings
2022 Bon Appetit
2022 Advisory x The Basquiat Estate
2022 Glaive
2022 Office Magazine
2022 Creature World
2022 Mono Moon
2022 Gavin South
2022 Fields of Land
2022 Nine Roses
Podcasts
2020 #4 - Grade Solomon, ART ART ART
2019 Ep. 7 - Grade Solomon, C41 Podcast with Willem Verbeek
Experience
2024 Lighting Assistant, Ethan Hickerson
2024 Prop Stylist Assistant, Photo/Genics Media
2024 Set Design/Producer, FANG, NYC
2023 Art Handling, An Artist Books, NYC
2023 Production Assistant, Something Special Studios, NYC
2023 Art Handling, New York Affordable Art Fair, NYC
2022 Art Handling, Art Market, Hampton Bays, NY
2022 Set Design/Producer, Advisory, NYC
2022 Creative Direction, Nine Roses, Richmond, VA
2021 Grip, SMOG, NYC
2019 Studio Assistant, Wallflower Management, NYC