Sophia Ainslie: Pata Pata

On View: September 8–October 3, 2015
Reception: Friday, September 8 6 – 8pm

After the death of her mother from cancer, Sophia Ainslie began using a single X-ray of her mother’s abdomen as source material.  It became a way to hold onto the memory of her mother and absorb the meaning of her passing.

The resulting shapes and marks led to the development of Ainslie’s visual language.  Ainslie “collages” carefully selected shapes and marks from that language to create an overall composition.  She uses the computer as a cutting tool to dissect, edit and collage fragments that are reconstituted and mapped through light projection.  Brushed, free-flowing India ink marks are juxtaposed with white space and flat, bright, painted color to create her paintings.  Each entity learns to coexist while maintaining its own identity.  Her intent is to create ambiguity as to whether the work is hand-made or printed and to prove that things are not always quite what they seem.

Ainslie is interested in forming a space that reflects the relationship between the body and landscape as interconnected and parallel experiences.  Drawing becomes a tool wherein observation and imagination intersect, resulting in a relationship of connections and disconnections between outside and inside or absence and presence.