Sofia Mitsola works primarily with painting to examine the female body. By looking at figures in ancient Egyptian and Greek sculpture, Japanese animation, and pornography she composes her own mythological characters and places them in geometrical, stagelike compositions. They are painted in vibrant colors and are layered with washes and impasto.
Her paintings often feature bare, larger than life characters who address the viewer with their direct gaze and invite them to look back. Through this act, Mitsola forms dynamic relationships between the painting and the viewer to establish new hierarchies and play with ideas of voyeurism, power, and control.
Mitsola currently lives and works in London. She received an MFA from Slade School of Fine Art, UCL in 2018, and holds a BA from the School of Visual and Applied Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Recent solo exhibitions include: Sofia Mitsola: House of Aquamarina, The Harley Gallery, Portland Collection Museum, Worksop; Aquamarina: Crocodilian tears, Pilar Corrias, London; Darladiladada, Pilar Corrias, London; Banistiri, Pilar Corrias, London; Jerwood Solo Presentations 2019, Jerwood Space, London. Her recent group exhibitions include Jean-Marie Appriou, Amy Feldman, Louisa Gagliardi, Kris Lemsalu, Conny Maier, Sofia Mitsola, and Tobias Pils, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich; A Year With The Jerwood Collection, The Harley Gallery, Nottingham; and dreamtigers, 125 Charing Cross, London. Mitsola was awarded the Tiffany & Co x outset Studiomakers Prize (2018) and the British Institution Student Award by the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2018).
[excerpted from Galerie Eva Presenhuber and Pilar Corrias websites: www.presenhuber.com and www.pilarcorrias.com]
