Sol Tur

Lives and works in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Artist statement

I paint a character named LOLO. Her eyes are squeezed shut, her cheeks are puffed, and her lips are pressed tight, as if she's holding something in. It could be a scream, a laugh, grief, or a secret. I never say which, because I think we all know that face from the inside. LOLO lives an ordinary life. She sits by the sea with her dog, runs through the rain with a newspaper over her head, eats ice cream in a deck chair, and gets her hair cut by her friend Bunny. Nothing dramatic happens to her. But in every painting she is carrying a feeling that is too big for her small body, and she keeps carrying it anyway. I build her out of tangled, restless lines, layer after layer, until the surface feels almost knotted. That's what holding something in feels like to me: busy and tight underneath, quiet on the outside. People often laugh when they first see LOLO, and then they go quiet. I like that moment. She's funny and sad at the same time, which is how most days feel.

Artwork