Scott Solary’s Debut Solo Exhibition at Forever Florida Gallery
Forever Florida Real Estate – Grand Central
2629 Central Ave
St. Petersburg, FL 33713
May 9, 2026: 5-9pm (On display May 1-31)
On the evening of May 9th, from 5 to 9 p.m., Forever Florida Gallery will open its doors to a landmark moment for artist, Scott Solary: his first solo exhibition, Second Nature: Grain as Source, Canvas, and Collaborator. Timed to coincide with the vibrant Second Saturday Art Walk in St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District, the exhibition invites the public into a deeply tactile and contemplative body of work that challenges conventional boundaries between artist and material, intention and emergence, design and discovery. Second Nature is more than an exhibition—it is an introduction to a way of seeing.
Where Nature Leaves Off
Scott Solary’s work begins with a simple but radical premise: the material is not passive. In an era where artists often impose vision upon blank surfaces, Solary instead turns toward surfaces already rich with narrative. His medium—wood—is not treated as a substrate to be covered, but as an active collaborator whose grain patterns suggest landscapes, atmospheres, and terrain.
Each piece starts with careful observation. Growth rings, knots, and subtle variations in tone are not imperfections to be concealed, but signals to be interpreted. Within these natural formations, Solary identifies horizon lines, cloud formations, bodies of water, or geological shifts. From there, he intervenes, using dyes and stains to amplify what is already present rather than overwrite it.
The result is a body of work that feels simultaneously discovered and created—images that seem to have always existed within the wood, waiting for someone with the patience to see them.
Grain as Language
The subtitle of the exhibition, Grain as Source, Canvas, and Collaborator, speaks directly to Solary’s proces. In his hands, wood grain becomes a visual language—one that operates according to its own logic of time, pressure, and growth.
Unlike traditional painting, where composition is constructed from the ground up, Solary’s compositions are guided by what the material offers. This requires a relinquishing of control that is both technical and philosophical. It is not simply about working with wood; it is about listening to it.
This approach aligns closely with a broader movement toward material-driven art practices, but Solary’s work stands apart in its clarity of intent. There is no irony here, no conceptual distance. The collaboration is sincere. The grain is not a metaphor—it is a partner.
The Biophilic Connection
At the heart of Second Nature is an engagement with biophilic principles—a concept rooted in the idea that humans possess an innate affinity for the natural world. Biophilia is more than an aesthetic preference; it is a psychological and physiological response. Studies have shown that exposure to natural patterns, textures, and forms can reduce stress, enhance creativity, and foster a sense of well-being.
Solary’s work taps into this connection in a direct and visceral way. Rather than depicting nature through representation, he presents nature itself—transformed, but still fundamentally intact. The viewer is not looking at an image of a landscape; they are looking into a material that has lived, grown, and recorded time within its structure.
This distinction matters. It shifts the experience from one of observation to one of participation. The eye follows the grain not as a painted illusion, but as a real, physical record of organic growth. The mind recognizes patterns that feel familiar, even if they are abstracted. The result is a quiet but powerful resonance—a feeling of recognition without explicit representation.
A Year of Work, A Cohesive Vision
The exhibition features over 30 original pieces created this year, marking an intense and focused period of production for Solary. Despite the variety of forms and compositions, the collection maintains a strong sense of cohesion. This is not a retrospective assembled from disparate experiments; it is a unified body of work that reflects a clear and evolving vision.
Some pieces emphasize expansive, panoramic compositions where sweeping grain patterns evoke distant horizons and atmospheric depth. Others focus more intimately on singular features—a knot magnified into a sun-like form, or a concentrated area of turbulence that reads as a storm or geological event.
Process as Practice
Central to understanding Solary’s work is an appreciation of his process. Unlike many contemporary artists who rely heavily on layering, revision, and overpainting, Solary’s approach is additive but restrained. Each decision must work in harmony with what already exists in the wood.
Dyes and stains are applied, often building in transparent layers that allow the grain to remain visible and active. Color is used not to dominate, but to coax out depth, to suggest light, to create contrast without obscuring the underlying structure.
A Beginning
As a debut solo exhibition, Second Nature marks a significant milestone. It is both a culmination of a year’s focused effort and the beginning of a broader artistic trajectory. The clarity of Solary’s vision, combined with the distinctiveness of his process, suggests a practice that will continue to evolve while remaining grounded in its core principles.
In a cultural moment often defined by speed and saturation, Solary’s art offers something different: a space for contemplation, a return to material awareness, a reminder that not all creation begins with a blank slate.
Sometimes, it begins with paying attention.
Second Nature: Grain as Source, Canvas, and Collaborator opens May 9th from 5 to 9 p.m. at Forever Florida Gallery during the Second Saturday Art Walk in St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
