Platform Graduate Award 2017 – Focus on Sophie Barber
2nd Nov 2017
Artist Sophie Barber has recently graduated from the University of Brighton at Sussex Coast College Hastings. Sophie was nominated for the Award by the De La Warr Pavilion.
“I paint intuitively, exploring a figurative language painting on large scale un-stretched canvas using oil paint as my medium. I don’t always plan what I’m going to paint, I go to the canvas and explore images from my mind or things I have absorbed from everyday life in a direct manner. Like a magpie, I steal things from life and other paintings and put them in my own. I always have something I want to say in the painting, I cut sections out if they don’t work and wait to find another place in another painting for them. I allow images to emerge and play out their relationship in the painting without interfering too much.
“Being part of the Platform Graduate Award has been a valuable experience for me, it has given my work exposure in a major gallery, along with feedback from curators, other artists, and the public. Platform is important because it assists with the transition from art school to working alone. I am grateful to my course leader Patrick Jones for giving me the freedom I needed for my paintings to develop over the past 3 years, the De La Warr Pavilion team, and CVAN South East for the opportunity.
“I am currently moving into a new studio in Hastings where I will continue to paint. I will also be working towards my first solo show at Project 78 Gallery in St Leonards-on-Sea next year.”
Image: Installation view, Sophie Barber © De La Warr Pavilion, 2017. Photo: Rob Harris.