The Frank Gallery presents ‘Penumbra Brew Quartet’, where the canvas becomes a psychological theater with artist Carlos Solorzano

The Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery in Pembroke Pines presents ‘Penumbra Brew Quartet‘, an exhibition featuring Studio 18 Art Complex resident artist Carlos Solorzano, where the canvas becomes a psychological theater—a liminal space where memory, culture, and the subconscious collide. This showcase of four airbrushed acrylic works—abstract yet evocative—stand as the surviving fragments of an intense creative process, remnants of an attempt to distill the ineffable. Here, the artist functions as both alchemist and medium, transforming a turbulent inner landscape into an atmospheric brew of earthy tones and spectral imagery. This exhibition is on view from March 13th through June 7th, 2025.

Art lovers and aficionados are cordially invited to enjoy the Opening Reception of Penumbra Brew Quartet on Thursday, March 13th from 6 – 9pm, opening in the third gallery space of The Frank Art Gallery simultaneously alongside Adventum Floridana: Witnessing the Layers of a Vanishing Horizon, and Of Seeing and Being at The Frank Gallery. Light refreshments will be served; this event is free & open to the public. The Frank Gallery is located at 601 City Center Way in Pembroke Pines, Florida 33025. Guests will experience an evening of art, conversation, and a compelling exploration of memory, perception, culture, and the vanishing horizons of South Florida.

Each piece of Solorzano’s navigates the tension between control and chaos, intention and accident, as if guided by an unseen force. The title itself—Penumbra Brew—suggests an infusion of shadow, a slow distillation of emotions, concepts, and references fermenting into something beyond recognition. Within these works, fragments of cultural memory flicker and dissolve: the spectral distortion of Max Ernst’s surrealist visions, the somber vastness of Mark Rothko’s color fields, and the ominous parables of Horacio Quiroga’s macabre tales. Each composition resists immediate interpretation, inviting viewers into a psychological free fall akin to the dream logic of Dark Side of the Moon, where sound, time, and meaning unravel.

Much like Francisco Goya’s The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, this series reveals the fragile boundary between consciousness and the subconscious, where contemporary anxieties manifest in abstract forms. Figures and symbols emerge only to dissolve, slipping between recognition and ambiguity—like a half-remembered thought or a dream fading upon waking. By engaging with these works, we step into a space where personal and collective psyches intertwine. These paintings are not passive objects; they confront, whisper, and shift, mirroring the unstable landscape of the human mind. Penumbra Brew Quartet invites us to embrace uncertainty, to navigate the liminal, and to seek meaning in the ever-shifting intersections of memory, myth, and emotion.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Carlos is a Venezuelan-American artist based in South Florida, inspired by the realism of the Old Masters and the surreal worlds of Max Ernst and H.R. Giger. Initially studying anthropology, he shifted to graphic design and illustration, earning a scholarship to study in Pittsburgh after training in Caracas. In Venezuela, he worked as a freelance artist and educator, gaining critical recognition before relocating to the U.S. due to political turmoil. Now a resident artist at The Studio 18 Art Complex in Pembroke Pines, Carlos continues to exhibit his work, exploring the intersections of reality and imagination.

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For more information visit www.thefrankgallery.org

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