Sofya Shpurova
Bio: Sof’ya Shpurova (born 1996 in Moscow Russia) is a New York-based multidisciplinary artist working in painting and sculpture. She received her BFA in painting from Slade School of Fine Art UCL London. Sofya’s work was recently shown in Mamoth London, Shoot the Lobster New York, Storage New York, Troy Town London, Holden Gallery Manchester and others.
sofyashpu.com
Instagram @in2weird
Thesis Exhibition
Artist Statement: My main concern is trying to achieve philosophical mobility while going against traditional conceptual mythology in painting. I am interested in examining how imagination and meaning-making are constructed and interpreted while challenging language and contemporary notions of taste. My work lies in interstitial spaces, between words, looking for a dialectical relation throughout the entire process. I am looking for a space in between connective organ tissue, moments of high tension, simultaneous violence and fragility, fear and humor, repulsion and attraction, on the verge of being dumb and sophisticated.
The physical surface exists not to serve the image but as a membrane of self- reflexivity, hoping for empathy same as flared skin. The process and the result is a self-aware mental image communicating a loss of distinction between inside and outside.
The verisimilar imagery is centered around poetics of levels of aliveness, Anthropocene and poetry of the medium. I use symbols associated with madness, religious iconography, and present life converted through my own sentimental lens, searching for union in conflict, rest- ing comfortably on the edge of a blade. My area of wondering is searching for new boundaries and borders of what ap- pears to be representational by abusing a dreamworld aesthetic only to mislead and play with contextual framework.
Sof'ya Shpurova
anton, 2024
Oil on canvas
&
Balthazar, 2024
Oil on canvas
Courtesy of the artist
&
overexposure to your eyes, 2024
Oil on linen
Courtesy of the artist
&
At 4 am I’m cutting up orchid stems with the sharpest razor that I stole from you
I see orchids aortas,
When it dries it will be my yarn
And I will knit you a vest
That you will never wear and will always laugh about
Because your sense of style is so important and good
I will crochet you a ring out of your sneezes
And I will dig the ground with badgers and skunks
We’ll sniff out the prettiest rock
To put on your neck
No one will even come close enough
And appreciate the accuracy of my cut
I am a surgeon may be just of some other kind, 2023
Oil on canvas
Courtesy of the artist
&
Brave astigmatic person who could have been a hero. There was no reason to, 2023
Oil on canvas
Courtesy of the artist
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untitled, 2024
Oil on board
Courtesy of the artist
First Year Exhibition
Sofya Shpurova
I am being pulled down and as soon as I put my hand on the core of the Earth my hand disappears. Now I can disappear completely. The core of the earth makes a buzzing (high) sound 2, 2023
Oil on canvas 36" x 54" x 2.5"
Courtesy of the artist
