You can always expect the unexpected when scrolling through Solis' Instagram feed, and 432k followers know exactly what they have signed up for. “I'm lucky enough that my work is able to touch a lot of people nowadays. I see it as an ongoing art show and a way for me to just share a laugh and also to be able to focus more on my art as a career by having more eyes on it,” said Solis about his popularity on social media.
An avocado with a beer belly, a banana on an important call, a piece of broccoli struggling to braid its untamed hair, a hardworking pear-plumber that cracks us all up, a body-image obsessed potato on a weight-loss journey, a goofy carrot, or a raisin addicted to plastic surgery — these are just a tiny fraction of the bizarre and amusing world Solis has created. But the personalities of these edible fellas, and the life situations they find themselves in, somehow make perfect sense. In his clever illustrations, Solis has linked features of simple foods with relatable struggles we all know by heart. And now we can't unsee it.
“Freshest Foods was a way to challenge myself and to show I can also do stuff not focused on pop culture. It started as one or two drawings and brainstorming with simple objects to create something out of something simple like a carrot,” said Solis. The artist said that he would think of as many concepts as he could for different fruits and vegetables, and was left with around 10 concepts for each to pick what he felt worked the best.
Solis loves using humor and satire to experiment with pop culture references and everyday life objects. He has gained fame with his unique and bold concepts that we didn't know we needed in our lives. “I find it challenging to create new ideas based on exciting art that others wouldn't think about. But again it's something I personally love, so it's more so an exploration of what our culture is,” said the artist.
We have previously featured some of Solis' most ingenious projects on Bored Panda, such as “Icons Unmasked” that shows a collection of clever mashups of our favorite characters with secret identities, "Famous Oldies" with well-known characters and superheroes aging like everyone else, and "Baby Terrors," where he imagined horror characters as little babies who are so cute, you almost wouldn't mind being murdered by them. He has also created disturbing yet adorable illustrations of predators vs. prey, rotten foods, and famous characters who have been eating a little too much junk food. He's produced unexpected creative doodles with ordinary objects and sign language. It's obvious that Solis' life revolves around art and the crazy and bizarre ideas he comes up with.
“Ever since I could remember, art has been there for me, through hard times and good. Growing up in a humble environment where I didn't have much, art has always been it, I'm lucky in that way that it was never a doubt what I wanted to do with my life. Everything inspires me, I see my art as a window of expression of myself and what happens around me.”
With such unrestrained imagination and talent, it was a natural progression to turn his life's passion into a job. With a background in design and web development, Solis was able to combine his artistry and technical skills to create more visual and concept-driven art. A Wisconsin-based artist works full-time on his independent brand, Oddworx, which is dedicated to products based on his art. Oddworx offers a vast variety of merch featuring the artist's most popular work: from prints and stickers to t-shirts and art figures.
We asked Solis about the challenges he faces with his brand; he said: “There are always challenges, especially since a lot of my work is always different, one thing might work great while another fails hard. But the important thing is to keep moving and learning and exploring. If it was simple it wouldn't be worth it.”
“A lot of my ideas are just concepts and day-to-day thoughts,” said Solis, “so, in the end, it also means I do put out some that are not brilliant or even funny. But I think it's worth doing ideas regardless: to one person they might be dumb, and to someone else, brilliant. Artists always have to adjust and adapt to continue to grow, it's an ever-changing job, but it's what keeps me on my toes.”
