Solomon Pawlyn is an interdisciplinary artist working between London and Glasgow whose practice occupies the space between the conceptual, the ridiculous and the heartfelt. His subjects range from Ibizan partygoers and gay online dating circles to, more recently, an unorthodox local celebrity in Essex. Pawlyn’s slightly journalistic approach is equal parts intuitive and absurd.
Much of his work attempts to decipher the confusing, funny and sad - qualities he finds inextricably linked and uniquely human. Through research and recontextualisation, Pawlyn’s pieces uncover brief moments of significance within these multifaceted subcultures, often through finding analogous connections between seemingly disparate fields. Working largely in mixed media installation, he uses image, sculpture, video and more to transform individual confusion into shared experience, discovering humour and poignancy in the strange spaces between.
Graduating from Glasgow School of Art in 2025 with a first-class honours degree in Sculpture and Environmental Art, Pawlyn found himself in need of direction and, as many might in that position, became pen pals with an anonymous figure known as the Gimp Man of Essex. His work for RSA New Contemporaries centres on this unconventional muse, exploring parallels between the man’s story and the pagan remnants scattered across Colchester, waiting to be uncovered.
