Portfolio
Artist Bio
Sol Skelton is a multimedia artist currently living in Vancouver, BC on the unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh). He moved from Brooklyn to Vancouver in 2021 to study Cognitive Systems and Visual Art at the University of British Columbia, and graduated in 2025.
Sol investigates the systems which surveil and divide populations, particularly those which act directly on the body. These systems are wide ranging, from societal norms, to government and corporate regulation, and the network of technologies which mediate separation and connection. He is interested in the relationship between cognition–both natural and artificial–and body.
Sol's work seeks to push against restrictive, oppressive categorization. His study of perception and cognition informs his view of human experience as something which is inherently communal and interrelated.
Illustrations
Dagmar
2024
Ballpoint pen on paper
2.5 x 4 inches
Conversion on the way to Damascus, Caravaggio (Study)
2023
Ballpoint pen on paper
2.5 x 4 inches
Calling of Saint Matthew, Caravaggio (Study)
2024
Ballpoint pen on paper
2 x 2 inches
Technology and the Body
All Hail the Machine
2023
Acrylic and paper on canvas
50 x 55 inches
Who's Afraid of Borders
2024
Acrylic on canvas
50 x 50 inches
untitled
2024
Digital installation with projection (TouchDesigner)
Read notes on Technology and the Body
For a class assignment on “western tradition.”
Stylistic inspiration: Caravaggio, tenebrism light as symbol of God; the facial features are compiled from other Baroque religious artworks.
Majority of society's relationship with God/religion changing; other non-traditional figures/concepts taking its place. Some are reverent towards technological power in a way that approaches divine worship, especially when it comes to AI.
Artificial General intelligence (which is the theoretical AI which is non-specialized) is referred to as all-knowing, even potentially all-powerful, and the digital world it-and we- inhabit is infinitely vast, immediate, intangible. The dichotomy between “science” and “religion” is collapsed and turned on its head; God ruled the past, and the computer will rule the future.
Borders delineate category; nation/nationalized identity, sex/sexual identity: national borders exemplify this in the legal scrutiny and designation of sexed bodies, with non-conforming, atypical sexed and gendered bodies being subjected to interrogation and humiliation.
“Body as landscape.”
Exploratory Project
Untitled
2024
Gesso, ink, and paint marker on paper
40 x 15 inches
Untitled
2024
Acrylic, gesso, ink, charcoal, paint marker, and graphite on paper
Dimensions variable
Untitled
2024
Acrylic, gesso, ink, and graphite on paper
24 x 40 inches
Untitled
2024
Gesso on paper
24 x 40 inches
Untitled
2024
Acrylic, gesso, ink, and charcoal on paper
24 x 40 inches
Untitled
2024
Acrylic, gesso, ink, and graphite on paper
24 x 40 inches
Informatics Series
Untitled (Informatics)
2024
Charcoal on paper
18 x 12 inches
Untitled (Informatics)
2024
Paper
9 x 12 inches
Untitled (Informatics)
2024
Graphite on paper
6 x 9 inches
Untitled (Informatics)
2024
Charcoal on paper
9 x 12 inches
Untitled (Informatics)
2024
Acrylic on paper
9 x 12 inches
Untitled (Informatics)
2024
Graphite on paper
9 x 12 inches
Pareidolia Series
Untitled (Pareidolia)
2024
Gouache on canvas
12 x 16 inches
Untitled (Pareidolia)
2024
Gouache on paper
9 x 12 inches
Untitled (Pareidolia)
2024
Gouache on paper
9 x 12 inches
Read notes on Pareidolia
Surrealism; abstraction; body/perception/recognition. These are automatic shapes–doodled, then painted. I took inspiration from surrealist movement; allowing “unconscious” to direct mark making. The act of viewing has a similar unconscious effect: pareidolia (the creation of meaning/patterns from perceptual information where there is none). Playing with perceptual effects, the mental creation of the body through viewing it, the freedom of ambiguity.