In Manuel Solano’s “The Basement”—the artist’s first grayscale painting since going blind—a somber figure stands alone in a corner, back turned, full of frustration. In “I’m Flying,” a quirky, vibrant nod to ’90s goth flick The Craft, Fairuza Balk lies strapped to a bed. These seem to represent the two sides of Solano, both silent struggle and feisty spirit. Born in Ciudad Satélite, a suburb near Mexico City, to an engineer father and a business owner mother, Solano credits their parents for fostering their creativity and allowing them a freedom of self-expression not always available to children. Young Solano took to coloring books, dancing, and making plasticine figures. Things took a turn in early adulthood when, as the burgeoning artist was about to begin art school, they were hit with an HIV-related illness. How blind artist Manuel Solano learned to paint again
In Manuel Solano’s “The Basement”—the artist’s first grayscale painting since going blind—a somber figure stands alone in a corner, back turned, full of frustration. In “I’m Flying,” a quirky, vibrant nod to ’90s goth flick The Craft, Fairuza Balk lies strapped to a bed. These seem to represent the two sides of Solano, both silent struggle and feisty spirit. Born in Ciudad Satélite, a suburb near Mexico City, to an engineer father and a business owner mother, Solano credits their parents for fostering their creativity and allowing them a freedom of self-expression not always available to children. Young Solano took to coloring books, dancing, and making plasticine figures. Things took a turn in early adulthood when, as the burgeoning artist was about to begin art school, they were hit with an HIV-related illness. How blind artist Manuel Solano learned to paint again
