Inside the Mind’s Mirror: Xevi Solà’s ‘Social Landscape’ Debuts at Opera Gallery Miami

Source: Opera Gallery Miami

Reported By: Matthew Kennedy

March 2025 – This May, Opera Gallery Miami will present a solo exhibition that invites its audience into a parallel reality—where dream logic meets cultural iconography, and psychological nuance animates every surface. Opening May 9 and on view through May 26, ‘Social Landscape’ introduces 14 new acrylic paintings by Xevi Solà, the acclaimed Spanish artist whose work dissects human interaction with the eye of a filmmaker and the hand of a portraitist.

Set within the Design District’s dynamic art scene, this latest body of work is as much a visual study of contemporary life as it is a reflection of the subconscious. For those attuned to the ever-shifting boundaries between art, culture, and psychology, Solà’s compositions offer a compelling mirror—distorted, perhaps, but precise in its emotional resonance.

‘Social Landscape’ borrows its name from a term coined by American photographer Lee Friedlander, whose candid street photography captured the friction and poetry of urban life. In Solà’s hands, the phrase takes on a surreal charge. His paintings recall the interiority of film stills—at once posed and spontaneous—rendered in arresting palettes of electric reds, buttery yellows, and cool blues.

Figures appear mid-thought, or mid-performance, caught between action and introspection. Works like Behind the Curtain and Backstage suggest a performative world layered with meaning, where statuesque models strike calculated poses while revealing undercurrents of power, vulnerability, or suppressed emotion. A former psychiatric hospital employee, Solà infuses each canvas with a studied understanding of the human psyche and its quiet complexities.

Solà’s visual language draws freely from cinema, fashion, and comics. Garden—a striking example in the show—reimagines The Wizard of Oz through the lens of contemporary fashion, conjuring a twisted echo of Dorothy’s journey down the yellow brick road. It’s a pop cultural remix filtered through a highly personal psychology.

Influences range from comic book artist Richard Corden to directors Jim Jarmusch and David Lynch, both known for their ability to isolate uncanny moments within seemingly banal settings. It’s no surprise that Solà paints with speed and conviction—embracing instinct over calculation to preserve the immediacy of expression.

Like Lucian Freud, Alice Neel, and Alex Katz before him, Solà sidesteps realism in favor of emotional truth. His figures may resemble models, actors, or everyday people, but what defines them is not likeness—it’s presence.

Founded in 1994, Opera Gallery now spans major cultural capitals including Paris, London, New York, Geneva, and Miami. Under the leadership of Gilles Dyan and Isabelle de La Bruyère, the gallery continues to curate ambitious exhibitions that champion both blue-chip and emerging voices.

Solà’s show follows a strong trajectory: he made his solo debut with Opera Gallery in Geneva last year and has previously exhibited at Voltz Clarke Gallery in New York, Alzueta Gallery in Barcelona, and YIRI ARTS in Taipei.

Opera Gallery’s Miami outpost—anchored in the city’s Design District—has become a vital space for contemporary experimentation. ‘Social Landscape’ confirms that position, offering Miami collectors and cultural observers a rare opportunity to encounter Solà’s deeply resonant practice up close.

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