I have a big crush on Wisconsin-artist Sofia Arnold, whose darling, moody paintings I find captivating. The subtle details in Sofia’s paintings, such as delicate textures or layers of dark tones, are amazing, and I’m doing my best to blow up these photos to give you a sense for what’s there. Much to Sofia’s credit, she has great detail shots of her paintings on Facebook.
Looking at Sofia’s work, I can’t help but see similarities to other artists I love (Betsy Walton and Katy Horan are the two that are top of mind). I also see influences of the Fauve painters, especially Matisse and Gaugin in Sofia’s work…the dreamscapes, the tableaux of people, creatures and plants, and the way everything in the paintings (hills, shadows, leaves) is abstracted into textures and patterns. And the spiritual element in Sofia’s paintings, which is hard to quite nail down, is wrapped into a larger narrative much like both Walton and Horan’s paintings.
Sofia is currently showing at Tory Folliard Gallery in Madison, WI through Feb 6th. Update: Sofia’s pieces at Tory Folliard are modestly priced from $300-$850. Thanks for MLFY for the original link.
