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Games get new life in exhibit

South Delta artist Michael Soltis has a new exhibit in Vancouver opening next week. The Games People Play is showing at Kimoto Gallery throughout February with an opening reception set for Friday, Jan. 29.
Michael Soltis
Tsawwassen artist Michael Soltis with his piece Full Tilt, which is made out of vintage pinball machines. The piece is one of many that are part of his latest show, The Games People Play, opening at Kimoto Gallery in Vancouver Friday, Jan. 29.

South Delta artist Michael Soltis has a new exhibit in Vancouver opening next week.

The Games People Play is showing at Kimoto Gallery throughout February with an opening reception set for Friday, Jan. 29.

Soltis, who lives in Tsawwassen and has been working in visual arts since 2011, said the inspiration for his latest series hit when he and his wife were cleaning out closets.

"I was getting ready to pack up our hall closet and looked at all these board games filling the shelves," he said in an email. "I was hit with a wave of nostalgia looking at all these dusty boxes - things that used to bring me so much pleasure now never seeing the light of day."

Soltis added he started wondering if there was a way to breathe new life into the old games.

"That's when the idea to create art out of them was born. I wanted to get them out of the closet and on to people's walls where they can be remembered and hopefully stir conversation and connection once again."

The result is The Games People Play, an exhibit of mixed media work made from vintage board games.

Soltis has had his work shown in galleries across North America, including Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Laguna Beach, Calgary, Vancouver and Park City. His art has also been featured in Anthology magazine, Mixed Media

Art magazine, TedX Vancouver and several national art blogs, and will be featured in an upcoming issue of Canadian House and Home.

His work is held in private collections throughout Canada, the United States and Europe.

The opening reception is at Kimoto Gallery, 1525 West 6th Ave., Vancouver, from 6 to 9 p.m. Soltis will be in attendance.