Sophie Westerlind: You danced on the carpet and waited for her

Galerie Norbert Arns in Cologne presents the first exhibition of artist Sophie Westerlind. Her show “You danced on the carpet and waited for her” is mainly of portrait paintings. Portraits of family members and friends are combined with paintings of rooms or places, which are connected to the people who live there. The vibrating spirit of her paintings follows her studies at the museums where she confronts herself with old masters by drawing pastels of their works.

My artistic practice centers on the question of mark-making. I use a variety of materials to achieve this: oil pastels for drawing, oil for painting. In recent years my work has particularly concentrated on the figure of the nude via in-person sittings and self-portraiture. My nudes are not erotic but vulnerable and collaborative. My approach is time and location-specific, and also shaped by colour, mood atmosphere and natural light. Photographs, both digital and analogue, are central, allowing for attunement to the subtleties of texture and emotion via brushwork. Photographs from friends and family provide intimate aide-memoires. As a Swedish artist who studied in London for six years before moving to Venice to study anatomy and painting, “home” is three different countries. Still, I thrive in different environments and residencies crucially help me to push myself and experiment with my work.