Endless Sun-Days

AT THE CENTER of Xevi Solà’s paintings is a familiar summer scene - and an unfamiliar sense of unease. A swimming pool glimmers in the sun, bodies linger at its edge, and time appears to stall. In Endless Sun-days, Solà’s first solo exhibition in New York, debuting at Opera Gallery this February, the Spanish artist presents scenes of leisure that unfold into subtle emotional dramas, charged with introspection beneath their luminous surfaces.

Comprising fifteen new paintings, the exhibition places viewers in settings that feel instantly familiar: young people sunbathing beside a pool, lingering over brunch in a garden, or reclining in moments of shared idleness. Yet these scenes resist the comfort typically associated with leisure. Rather than offering uncomplicated pleasure, Solà’s work reveals a more complex emotional terrain, where brightness and beauty coexist with unease and restraint. His figures appear paused in time, as if caught mid-thought, their emotions simmering just beneath the surface.

Solà draws from an eclectic range of visual sources, including fashion photography, mugshots, and Hollywood cinema. These references influence portraits that feel at once staged and deeply human. “If I had to define this series,” Solà explains, “I would say it’s a kind of collective psychological portrait. These figures are trying to relax in a bright and colorful environment, but grey clouds lurk behind their sunglasses.” Each painting functions as an invitation, prompting the viewer to imagine what preceded the scene and what might follow once the stillness breaks.

A key work in the exhibition, Dimanche 1 (2025), encapsulates the emotional register of the series. Four young figures lounge beside a sunlit swimming pool, their feet immersed in the water. Although they share the same physical space, each appears psychologically isolated, absorbed in private thought. There is no overt interaction or dramatic gesture - only a silence weighted with implication. Time seems suspended, as if the scene were held between breaths. The painting subtly nods to David Hockney’s iconic swimming pool imagery, with its clarity of light and emphasis on leisure. Yet where Hockney often celebrated openness and pleasure, Solà introduces ambiguity, allowing introspection and doubt to permeate the brightness of the setting.