Sonya Blesofsky
Sonya Blesofsky
Workspace Program Resident 2006
I feel like I learned a new technology. I could never have created the sculptural pieces I did without being here. I’m much more informed about the medium I work in. —Sonya Blesofsky, 2007
Sonya Blesofsky’s work explores themes of urban deterioration and renewal. Her work examines the ways in which we experience and move through the world. During her residency, Blesofsky created hand-cut watermarks depicting the deteriorating streetscapes of Brooklyn, especially the Williamsburg and Gowanus neighborhoods. The artist writes, “Urban theorists posit that we experience the city by the way in which we move through it… My work comes from a place of great anxiety about things being unstable or falling apart.”
Sonya also created a Cinderblock Study during her residency. Using abaca paper pulp, Sonya applied and draped the material to fit a cinderblock in a patchwork like method. Using this process, she transformed the paper medium into an architectural form. At first glance, the piece appears to be a standard cinderblock but upon closer inspection, it is revealed to be a much more fragile object. By doing so, Sonya allows the artwork to become more accessible, removing the long held elevated status of a work of art. The ephemeral nature of her work is achieved through this fragility and the haunting character that so indicative of her style.
In the Studio
About the Artist
Sonya Blesofsky (b. Boston, MA) received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and BA from UC Santa Cruz. She has received numerous residencies and fellowships, including Urban Glass, the Lower East Side Printshop, Museum of Arts and Design, CUE Art Foundation, Smack Mellon, Dieu Donne, and MacDowell Colony. Blesofsky’s work has been shown at galleries in Miami, San Francisco, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Washington DC. Blesofsky’s work has been written about in The Village Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, NYFA Current, Art Fag City, Hand Papermaking Magazine and The Brooklyn Rail. Blesofsky will be a Iaspis Grantholder at the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s residency in Stockholm, in 2019. Born in Boston and raised in California, she currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. (Source: NY Artbeat)
For more information, please visit their website: https://www.sonyablesofsky.com