Artist Statement
Through abstract painting Sophie Perkins aims to explore the interplay between the outer and inner landscape. Through the process of painting the connection between body and mind is explored as a radiation of our experience the world. The contemplative and dynamic energy of her work oscillates between chance, control and careful restraint. Membranes of flooded pools of pigment transcend mechanisms of the sensory perception intertwining Nature and the 'nature of being'. Rather than a direct response to a particular place, the painting is a depiction of what is seen and what is felt with great emphasis of the phenomenology of being in the landscape.
Working with watered down acrylic mediums, Perkins uses a pouring and soak-stain technique to achieve fluid notions of the coastal landscape bringing to the forefront visual observations and perceptions of colour and a configuration of the world around us. Through a thoughtful consideration of Hue and Tone the abstract compositions question the language of colour in attempt to paint the texture of memory and perception in the manipulation of the optics of colour and light.
The intuitive play of paint ignites the conscious/subconscious role, unfolding the term the ‘inner landscape’ through the exploration of the materiality and alchemy of paint on raw canvas. It is through the process and artist’s gesture that the embodiment of the landscape is released and poured onto canvas using the physical body to enact a perpetual experience to mirror the interchangeable exchange between body, mind and landscape in it’s constant dynamic flux.
Education
(2021) University of the Arts London - Contemporary Art Exhibition and Event Management Short Course
(2017 - 2020) Falmouth University - First Class Honours in Fine Art BA(Hons)
(2016 - 2017) Totnes Art and Design Foundation Course EDEXCEL BTEC Level 4 Foundation Diploma in Art & Design - Distinction