Sophie Ko
Sophie Ko (Tbilisi, 1981) lives and works in Milan. At the heart of her artistic practice lies the concept of time, which is explored in its intense symbolic interaction with the materials she employs – mostly ashes of burnt images and pure pigments – and the images created. The change and instability of materials in relation to the flow of time are some of the constants of her artistic research. The Temporal Geographies, for example, provide an exemplification of a series of works eternally suspended between the act of creation and that of destruction, where the image is constantly subjected to a continuous process of modification through the slow and relentless collapse of the material of which it is made. Conceived through a conceptual and formal negotiation between sculpture and painting, these works stage “a bond made of weight, pressure, gravity, and the destruction of time on images, but also of formation, depth, return, and rebirth with respect to the passage of time.” Meaningful metaphors of the caducity and mutability of existence, her works recall the trajectory of life that we trace, parallel to a slow but persistent collapsing movement.
Recent solo shows include: Italian Cultural Institute, London (2024); Estorick collection of Italian modern art, London (2024); Renata Fabbri, Milan (2015, 2018 and 2023); Contemporary Locus, Bergamo (2023); Postmasters Rome, with Marta Kucsora (2023); Museo Marino Marini, Florence (2022); EAST Galerie, Strasbourg (2022); Galleria de’ Foscherari, Bologna (2016 and 2021–22); BUILDINGBOX, Milan (2021); BUILDING Gallery, Milan (2020); Ca’Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice (2019); The OpenBox, Milan (2018). She has participated in group exhibitions at Saudi Arabian Museum of Contemporary Art (SAMoCA), Riyadh Saudi Arabia (2024); Premio di Grafica Santa Croce, Santa Croce sull’Arno, Pisa; Studio la Città, Verona; Societé Interludio, Turin; Circolo, Milan; Villa Croce Museo d’arte Contemporanea, Genova (2023); Palazzo Ducale, Gubbio (2022); Fondazione Malvina Menegaz, Castelbasso (2021); Palazzo Barbò Torre Pallavicina, Bologna (2021); MAC – Contemporary Art Museum, Lissone (2021); and Renata Fabbri, Milan (2020), among others. In 2016, Sophie Ko won the Lissone Prize for Painting organized by MAC – Contemporary Art Museum, Lissone.
Sophie Ko (Tbilisi, 1981) lives and works in Milan. At the heart of her artistic practice lies the concept of time, which is explored in its intense symbolic interaction with the materials she employs – mostly ashes of burnt images and pure pigments – and the images created. The change and instability of materials in relation to the flow of time are some of the constants of her artistic research. The Temporal Geographies, for example, provide an exemplification of a series of works eternally suspended between the act of creation and that of destruction, where the image is constantly subjected to a continuous process of modification through the slow and relentless collapse of the material of which it is made. Conceived through a conceptual and formal negotiation between sculpture and painting, these works stage “a bond made of weight, pressure, gravity, and the destruction of time on images, but also of formation, depth, return, and rebirth with respect to the passage of time.” Meaningful metaphors of the caducity and mutability of existence, her works recall the trajectory of life that we trace, parallel to a slow but persistent collapsing movement.
Recent solo shows include: Italian Cultural Institute, London (2024); Estorick collection of Italian modern art, London (2024); Renata Fabbri, Milan (2015, 2018 and 2023); Contemporary Locus, Bergamo (2023); Postmasters Rome, with Marta Kucsora (2023); Museo Marino Marini, Florence (2022); EAST Galerie, Strasbourg (2022); Galleria de’ Foscherari, Bologna (2016 and 2021–22); BUILDINGBOX, Milan (2021); BUILDING Gallery, Milan (2020); Ca’Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice (2019); The OpenBox, Milan (2018). She has participated in group exhibitions at Saudi Arabian Museum of Contemporary Art (SAMoCA), Riyadh Saudi Arabia (2024); Premio di Grafica Santa Croce, Santa Croce sull’Arno, Pisa; Studio la Città, Verona; Societé Interludio, Turin; Circolo, Milan; Villa Croce Museo d’arte Contemporanea, Genova (2023); Palazzo Ducale, Gubbio (2022); Fondazione Malvina Menegaz, Castelbasso (2021); Palazzo Barbò Torre Pallavicina, Bologna (2021); MAC – Contemporary Art Museum, Lissone (2021); and Renata Fabbri, Milan (2020), among others. In 2016, Sophie Ko won the Lissone Prize for Painting organized by MAC – Contemporary Art Museum, Lissone.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale, Un Petalo, 2024Pure pigment, 60x50 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Fiori nuovi, 2024Pure pigment, 60x50 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Camminare al gelo, 2024Pure pigment, 60x50 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Segni nei cieli, 2024Pure pigment, 120x60 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Il cuore di una stella, 2023Pure pigment, fragments of butterfly wings, ash of burnt images, 180x154 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Una stella, frammento IV, 2023Pure pigment, fragments of butterfly wings, ash of burnt images, 96x150 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Una stella, frammento III, 2023Pure pigment, fragments of butterfly wings, ash of burnt images, 97x258 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Una stella, frammento I, 2023Pure pigment, fragments of butterfly wings, ash of burnt images, 133x154 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Una stella, frammento II, 2023Pure pigment, fragments of butterfly wings, ash of burnt images, 75x240 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Una stella, frammento V, 2023Pure pigment, fragments of butterfly wings, ash of burnt images, 91x233 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Per una stella (II), 2023Pure pigment, ash of burnt images, 70x50 cm.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Cascata, 2022Pure pigment, 70x45 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. La corteccia, 2023Gold dust and ash, 70x50 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale, Prima che le stelle cadano I, 2023Pure pigment, butterfly wings, ash of burnt images, 170x70 cm.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale, Prima che le stelle cadano II, 2023Pure pigment, butterfly wings, ash of burnt images, 170x70 cm.
Sophie Ko, Prima che la notte cada, 2023Giclée print, pigment based inks on pure cotton paper mounted on Dibond, 60x40 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Una barca, 2023Bronze, 27x18x20 cm, 28x17,5x33 cm, 27x14x33 cm (from left to right). Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Una barca, 2023Bronze, 26x25x30 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Una barca, 2023Bronze, 24x20x29 cm. Ph. Mattia Mognetti.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Back to black, 2022Pure pigment, ashes of burned images, 150 x 100 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli.
Sophie Ko, Waldgänger, 2012Unburned remains, 37x28cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli.
Sophie Ko, Waldgänger, 2012Unburned remains, 37x28 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli.
Sophie Ko, Waldgänger, 2012Unburned remains, 37x28 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale, Silva I, 2023Pure pigment, 26x20x3 cm.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale, Silva II, 2023Pure pigment, 26x20x3 cm.
Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale, Silva III, 2023Pure pigment, 26x20x3 cm.
- Sophie Ko
- Sophie Ko
- Sophie Ko
- Sophie Ko,
- Serena Vestrucci,
- Giovanni Kronenberg
Museo del Novecento, Milan
April 10 – June 30, 2024
Curated by Mariuccia Casadio
- Sophie Ko
April 12-14, 2024
VIP Preview Apr 11
Established
Pav.3 – Booth B17
- Sophie Ko
Fondazione Made in Cloister, Naples
March 16 – September 21, 2024
Curated by Demetrio Paparoni
- Sophie Ko
Italian Cultural Institute, London
February 6 – February 19, 2024
Curated by Elena Re
And at Estorick Collection Of Modern Art, London
February 7 – February 25, 2024
