At the crossroads of fashion, skating, film, and art lies Solace Studios: hometown creation of Cal Poly Architecture student Liam Kelley. Solace began for Liam his sophomore year of high school, but is the product of a lifelong affinity for creating. Since then, the versatility of his art has only broadened. Whether it be clothing, airbrush, or furniture, there is a distinctive imagination about Solace pieces entrancing viewers into taking a deeper look.
Upon speaking with Liam, it became clear to me what matters most for him is the creative process; even the name Solace enunciates his passion for constant invention:
“I was reading this book I was assigned over summer and I saw the word ‘solace.’ I looked up the definition and it meant ‘peace of mind through creative endeavors,’ and I felt like that was really my–not to sound too cliche or anything–but my whole purpose. I feel the most fulfilled when I’m creating.”
Displayed above me in Liam’s living room is an expansive airbrushed fabric covered with numerous, coinciding scenes and characters. It’s easy to get lost in the dreamlike cartoon style; a whole world of black and white unfolds before you. When I ask Liam about his own artistic process, he points to this piece:
“I had this whole imaginary world in my sketchbook I could always turn to. That was my solace. When I make a new piece, I don’t really think about what it would look like on a person. I just draw it on the character to see what it looks like as a cartoon. It all feels very imagination-oriented.”
Within every piece, this visionary process speaks volumes for Liam’s artistic rhythm. Clothing or canvas, Solace possesses the rare quality of range: a recognizable style whether it be minimal or complex.
“I like things that aren’t necessarily just to look at and think ‘damn that’s beautiful.’ I like things that make you think more. My first logo was a face that spelled out Solace. It was just kinda like a thing people would look at like ‘damn what is that?’ And then I’d explain it and once they understood, it was like ‘oh that’s really cool.’ It makes things a lot more recognizable for people rather than just seeing a logo on a t-shirt. There’s always a different meaning why this is here; why I chose this instead of that.”
For Liam, a vast array of muses and mediums intertwine for inspiration. Each artistic interest fuses into a mosaic of analog art. Solace’s effortless simplicity reflects the styles of architectural minimalist heroes Mies van der Rohe and Adolf Loos; airbrushed works inherit the personality of artist CHITO’s unpolished street style; and the cosmic melodies of MIKE and 454 embed dreamlike emotions into each piece.
“Music is a really big part of it for me, I feel like the stuff that makes me the most inspired to put my pen to paper and airbrush is music. It’s not even seeing stuff. I’ll listen to music and it makes me feel anxious and hyper. I don’t know why, but that’s when I’m most creative.”
Alongside architecture, art, and music, Liam attributes a major source of inspiration and his reason for beginning Solace to the creative communion found in skateboarding. Sophomore year of high school–coinciding with the beginning of Solace–a peaked interest in the sport opened up his world to new friendships, music, art, and ultimately, clothing.
“That’s what I like about Solace: it’s really based on skating. I like skating because when I was a kid, everything I did with sports was a competition, but skating, it was just you and your friends working hard to ultimately create a video at the end.”
In high school, Liam became friends with Shawn Rojas, founder of the clothing and skateboard company Experiment, and began skating for the brand. Soon the realm of fashion became a much more tangible possibility for him. The doors for creating were opened.
“I was lowkey shy in high school. All my friends were older and they hella took me in–that whole Experiment crew–it was just really cool. The best way I could put it was that I went from this little kid looking up to these people like damn I wanna be like them to those being my best friends.”
Despite the new horizons skateboarding brought on, Liam says his hometown could feel pretty restrained, but that hasn’t deterred him from growing in creative expression. If anything, he learned to forge art from bare bones–now a defining principle of his work.
“Fresno is definitely not the most glamorous city and a lot of the time it feels very hard to get out of. It tries to keep you in for some reason. You know the saying: creation through constraint.”
Since coming to SLO, Liam says being an architecture major has transformed how he views creating art. Rather than settling on a final product, his pieces now take on a life of their own, constantly evolving in both the cerebral and analog sense.
“Architecture put me on to this whole idea of you’re never really finished, you don’t have finishing points. Once you make a product, it’s not just dead, it’s about documenting the product and constantly developing it.”
Architecture–through sundry creative processes and methods of artistic representation–has broadened Liam’s horizons immeasurably, and in turn, given him a clearer image of Solace’s future.
“The reason why it’s called Solace Studios is because at the end of the day, I wanna have a studio where I can really just be free and make what I want. Whether that be clothing, alongside furniture, alongside accessory items, and then also somehow incorporate skating and film into it.”
Along with new shirts and jerseys, Home, a Solace short film, will be coming out soon picturing Liam’s upbringing in Fresno, and how the city impacted his perspectives and designs. All Solace artwork, clothing, and films can be found @solace____studios on Instagram.
“For now, I’m just working through direct messages. If you need something, I got you and I’ll deliver it.”
Julia White is a member of our editorial staff. She conducted the interview and wrote the article. Abbott Swanson is our Art Director. She made the graphic. Henry Ludlow is a member of our photo/video team. He took the photos.
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