Sophie Kitching
touch of time
Alice Folker Gallery
October 8 - November 26, 2022
Esplanaden 14, 1263 Copenhagen
Denmark
Press Release
Alice Folker Gallery is pleased to present Sophie Kitching’s first solo exhibition in Denmark, on view at its newly opened Esplanaden 14 gallery space in Copenhagen. Entitled “touch of time”, this exhibition of new paintings, sculptures, and works on paper continues the artist’s ongoing investigations into color, perception and space as translated through the language and materiality of abstraction.
Running through the artist’s works are a series of meditations on painting and its co-mingling with modern materials of industrial production. Gentle swoops of color and a studied balance of the picture plane find a conceptual counterpoint with media sourced from the urban landscape: sheets of corrugated plastic, two-way mirrors, and meticulously cut limestone and aerated concrete. The exhibition was prepared both in New York, where Sophie Kitching lives & works, and in Paris, where she spent the summer of 2022. Spread between new series and conceptual ground, these works treat organic forms and inorganic surfaces with equal care, allowing their shared materiality to speak to a distinctly contemporary facet of modern life, a world somewhere between the man-made and the naturally occurring.
The “Invisible Green” series, for instance, draws from the titular color used in the design of English parks in the late XVIIIth century, a rich hue applied on gates and conservatories, in an attempt to blend these structures in with the fabric of the landscape around them. A form of architectural camouflage, the color here becomes a gestural foundation, which the artist embellishes with an array of subtle tones, ranging from bluish turquoise to earthy shades, adding in daubs of fuchsia, red, and bright yellow.
There’s something of the traditions of plein air painting in these works, telling an indirect tale of nature experienced far from home. Visions of surreal, plant-like creations translate the textural relations of a space to two dimensions, yet here, this approach is executed in the same register as the original, three-dimensional design, returning the distinctive English green’s function as a compositional element against the backdrop of ground and sky. Place and time remain at the center of the work’s creation, even as the artist pulls these contexts into a broader conversation of perception and history.
touch of time also features the more recent “Nocturne” series on canvas, a nod to the musical compositions of the XIXth century. Rather than a night view of her brighter, more joyful Garden green, this series acts as a functional negative, delving deeper into the representation of light and shadow using black Indian ink, mixed with neutral tones and Payne’s grey as a backdrop, allowing for intricate games of push & pull to unfold on the surface. The works begin with recognizable scenes, sometimes covering over preexisting landscapes, then drawing them away from their natural appearances, once again using abstraction less as a formal baseline for each work, and more as a process to arrive at the final image.
Other works apply a similar approach to the language of painting, using overlaid sheets of corrugated plastic and mirrored panels, each layer holding its own series of gestures, to create dense, interlocking patterns with this same engagement towards space and light. Each motion of the brush is placed against a complex series of correlating elements, defined as much by color pairings as they are by a strict hierarchy of depth and movement. Through simple overlays of polycarbonate panels, the work executes intricate explorations of the painted object, and its relation to modern questions of perception. One might even read this series as “applied abstractions,” utilizing the technical contexts of a work’s creation to open dialogues across historical and artistic eras.
A set of new sculptures in limestone and aerated concrete embrace a similar sense of spatial presence. This series of stark geometric forms hand-cut and arranged in a precarious unity, trace a fine line between minimalist tenets and an exploration of the artist’s act of placement and gesture. Further, in the series of watercolor studies on Fabriano paper, color and form are held in close conversation. Showcasing Sophie Kitching’s interest in joint themes of time and space, balance and interaction, unified by the artist’s hand and a careful study of material history, the works on view here allow a series of shared perspectives, reflecting an open process of exchange and conceptual reciprocity.
touch of time
Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen
installation view
–
Invisible Green XXI & XXII, 2022
oil, watercolor, crayons on canvas
each: 195 x 130 cm (76 3/4 x 51 1/8 inches)
Private collection
Nocturne II, 2022
oil, ink, watercolor, gouache, pastel, charcoal on canvas
140 x 91.5 cm (55 x 36 inches)
Private Collection
Imbalance I, 2022
limestone, aerated concrete
64 x 88 x 7 cm (25 1/4 x 34 5/8 x 2 3/4 inches)
Invisible Green XXIII, 2022
oil and watercolor on canvas
180 x 150 cm (70 7/8 x 59 inches)
Private collection
touch of time
Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen
installation view
touch of time
Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen
installation view
Invisible Green XIX, 2022
oil, gouache, charcoal, crayons on canvas
204 x 244 cm (80 x 96 inches)
Private Collection
Nocturne IV, 2022
oil, ink, pastels on canvas
130 x 162 cm (51 1/8 x 63 3/4 inches)
Invisible Green XXII, 2022
oil, watercolor, crayons on canvas
195 x 130 cm (76 3/4 x 51 1/8 inches)
Private collection
Invisible Green XXI, 2022
oil, watercolor, crayons on canvas
195 x 130 cm (76 3/4 x 51 1/8 inches)
Private collection
Invisible Green XX, 2022
oil, watercolor, crayons on canvas
195 x 130 cm (76 3/4 x 51 1/8 inches)
Private Collection
touch of time
Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen
installation view
–
Imbalance II, 2022
limestone, aerated concrete
68,5 x 102 x 7 cm (27 x 40 1/8 x 2 3/4 inches)
touch of time
Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhage
ninstallation view
Imbalance II, 2022
limestone, aerated concrete
68,5 x 102 x 7 cm (27 x 40 1/8 x 2 3/4 inches)
Nocturne III, 2022
oil, ink, pastel on canvas
100 x 81 cm (39 3/8 x 31 7/8 inches)
Private Collection
Untitled (Entrance), 2022
acrylic and two-way mirror on polycarbonate
86 x 61 cm (33 7/8 x 24 inches)
Untitled (Tropic), 2022
oil and acrylic on polycarbonate, two-way mirror
83 x 61 cm (32 3/4 x 24 inches)
touch of time
Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen
installation view
–
Invisible Green XXIV, 2022
oil, watercolor, pastel on canvas
183 x 152,5 cm (72 x 60 inches)
Invisible Green XXIV, 2022
oil, watercolor, pastel on canvas
183 x 152,5 cm (72 x 60 inches)
Private Collection
Invisible Green XXV, 2022
oil, watercolor, pastel on canvas
183 x 152,5 cm (72 x 60 inches)
Private collection
touch of time
Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen
installation view
touch of time
Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen
installation view
–
touch of time, 2022
mural
watercolor, oil pastel, pastel, crayons on wall
approx. 300 x 250 cm (118 1/8 x 98 3/8 inches)
&
Lemon Eye, 2019
limestone, aerated concrete, metal fans, lemon
40 x 40 x 25 cm (15 3/4 x 15 3/4 x 10 inches)
touch of time
Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen
installation view
–
Lemon Eye, 2019 (detail)
limestone, aerated concrete, metal fans, lemon
40 x 40 x 25 cm (15 3/4 x 15 3/4 x 10 inches)
Lemon Eye, 2019
limestone, aerated concrete, metal fans, lemon
40 x 40 x 25 cm (15 3/4 x 15 3/4 x 10 inches)
Mandorla I, 2022
oil and two-way mirror on polycarbonate
51 x 41 cm (20 x 16 inches)
Private Collection
Mandorla II, 2022
oil and two-way mirror on polycarbonate
51 x 41 cm (20 x 16 inches)
Mandorla III, 2022
oil and two-way mirror on polycarbonate
51 x 41 cm (20 x 16 inches)
touch of time
Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen
installation view
–
Imbalance I, 2022
limestone, aerated concrete
64 x 88 x 7 cm (25 1/4 x 34 5/8 x 2 3/4 inches)
Nocturne IV, 2022
oil, ink, pastels on canvas
130 x 162 cm (51 1/8 x 63 3/4 inches)
touch of time
Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen
installation view
Nocturne I, 2022
oil, ink, watercolor, gouache, pastel, charcoal on canvas
112 x 142 cm (44 x 56 inches)
Nocturne I, 2022 (detail)
oil, ink, watercolor, gouache, pastel, charcoal on canvas
112 x 142 cm (44 x 56 inches)
Nocturne I, 2022 (detail)
oil, ink, watercolor, gouache, pastel, charcoal on canvas
112 x 142 cm (44 x 56 inches)
Nocturne II, 2022
oil, ink, watercolor, gouache, pastel, charcoal on canvas
140 x 91.5 cm (55 x 36 inches)
Private Collection
Invisible Green XX, 2022
oil, watercolor, crayons on canvas
195 x 130 cm (76 3/4 x 51 1/8 inches)
Private collection
Balmy series, 2022
watercolor on paper
each: 30,5 x 22,8 cm (12 x 9 inches)
Untitled (Yosemite) III, 2021
oil and acrylic on polycarbonate
28 x 35,5 cm (11 x 14 inches)
Untitled (Veil) I, 2021
oil on canvas
28 x 35,5 cm (11 x 14 inches)
Untitled (Veil) I, 2021
oil on canvas
28 x 35,5 cm (11 x 14 inches)