Spotlight Artist

Sophia Anthony

West
Artist profile photo

Off Work

painting of a white man loosening his tie in an industrial office space

oil on linen

Flower, Further

painting of a white woman's back with a chair in the front

oil on canvas

A Double Scene

painting of a few different people in mirrors at different angles

oil on canvas

Featured in New American Paintings1 / 3

Artist Statement

 My current work depicts figures set amidst uncertain atmospheres and architectures in tightly constructed paintings. I draw upon a variety of sources, from poetry and literature, to found images, film stills, observational drawing, and art history. Synthesizing these references, I construct my paintings into horizontal, mid-shot compositions that frame the figures as characters moving through active spaces, from quiet domestic interiors to unknown domains.

I am interested in using a variety of styles within a single painting to heighten the ambiguity and psychological tension of the scene and to complicate the figure/ground relationship. Painstaking details in clothing and hair will appear next to expressive marks that describe motion or atmosphere, while architectural motifs are often rendered to the point of geometric abstraction. The multiplicity of my painting practice underscores the emotions of the figures and creates a sense of spatial and psychological interiority, while also suggesting that these narratives are open to multiple interpretations.

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