Between them and us: Paula Solís

In Paula Solís's work, painting becomes a space where the boundaries between humanity and nature dissolve. Through oils and watercolors, the artist constructs worlds in which human figures, animals, and vegetation coexist, inviting us to envision an alternative reality where harmony among species is not only possible but urgently needed.

The exhibition Between Them and Us brings together works from different moments in Solís’s creative process. In the earlier pieces from the Floral Arrangement series (2018), male bodies appear against solid-colored backgrounds, while the flowers remain confined to the margins, still waiting to take center stage. In later works, such as Floral Arrangement with Lemons, Floral Arrangement with Oranges, and Floral Arrangement No. 7, nature gains strength and expands, increasingly claiming the pictorial space.

The most recent pieces, Floral Arrangement No. 13 and No. 14, mark the return of animals to the composition. In these nature-saturated scenes, humans and animals share space in an unusually close proximity that defies conventional norms. The sense of harmony in these paintings suggests a profound yearning to restore broken bonds with the natural world—an increasingly vital need in today’s disconnected reality.

The watercolor series that gives the exhibition its title prompts a direct inquiry into that distance: Who are “they”? What separates us, or what brings us together? With a vibrant palette and a delicate sensibility that conveys the fragility of balance, these works offer a reflection on coexistence, empathy, and the need to rethink our relationship with all living beings.

Between Them and Us is ultimately an invitation to imagine new possible orders. Through a painterly language that moves between figuration and abstraction, Paula Solís creates scenes where chance and control are held in balance, and where every element—human, animal, or plant—participates in the same story: that of inhabiting the world together.