Sophie Rowley
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About

 

Sophie Rowley, a German and New Zealand artist with a MA from Central Saint Martins London, lives and works in Berlin. With a background in textiles her work embraces the experimentation with technique and geometry. Central to her approach are methods of deconstruction, wherein she challenges the inherent structural norms and tangible aspects of canvas, redefining its role as a mere substrate to the very essence of the artwork itself. Her self-developed techniques entail a meticulous repetition, unfolding across days, weeks, and months, and resulting in intricate, corporeal paintings.  

She disrupts conventional perceptions surrounding the predetermined gender associations attributed to mediums and materials. Embracing a feminist ethos, she celebrates the utilisation of traditionally female mediums that are historically rooted in domesticity. Her practice questions entrenched biases, inviting a reevaluation of societal constructs that dictate artistic expression along gendered lines. 

Sophie’s work has been exhibited internationally, amongst others at Roche Court’s New Art Centre in Salisbury (UK), at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge (UK), at the Design Museum Gent (BE), at MAKE Hauser & Wirth in Bruton and London (UK) and at the Isamu Noguchi Stone Heaven in Tokyo/ JP. Her work is represented in the collections of the V&A London, the Design Museum Gent, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the Georgetown University Art Galleries in Washington.


Contact

info@sophierowley.com

+49 (0)176 56830177

Sophie Rowley
Lindenstrasse 31B
12555 Berlin, Germany


 

Exhibitions (selection):


MAKE Hauser & Wirth, ‘Wilder Than Wildness Itsself’ , Somerset and London, UK

Group Show, Curated by Jacqueline Moore / Nov 2021. - Jan. 2022

www.hauserwirth.com/make/35270-wilder-than-wildness-itself

‘Beyond Nature’ Group Show, Curated by Jacqueline Moore and shown at Hauser & Wirth London, May-.June 2022


The Israel Museum, ‘Man and Nature’, Jerusalem, Israel

Group Show, Curated by Osnat Sirkin  / Summer 2021


Roche Court, New Art Centre, ‘Common Thread’ , Salisbury, UK

Croup Show, Curated by Lewis Dalton / May - Sept. 2020

www.sculpture.uk.com/common-thread


Design Museum Gent, ‘Van Eyck’s colors in design’ , Gent, Belgium

Group Show, Curaters: Siegrid Demyttenaere & Sofie Lachaert  / May - Sept. 2020

www.designmuseumgent.be/agenda/kleureyck


Georgetown University Art Gallery , ‘Design Transfigured / Waste reimagined’, Washington DC

Group show curated by Curatorsquared (Judy Fox and Ginger Duggan), Jan. - Sept. 2020


Kettle’s Yard, ‘Re-Make’ , Cambridge, UK

Group Show, Curated by Sarah Banbery  / Oct. -Nov. 2019

www.kettlesyard.co.uk/events/re-new/


Isamu Nugochi Stone Heaven, ‘Loewe Craft Prize’ , Tokyo, Japan

Group Show, Organised by the Loewe Foundation / June-July 2019 


Design Museum Gent, ‘Poeme Brut’ , Gent, Belgium

Group Show, Curaters: Siegrid Demyttenaere & Sofie Lachaert / April - July 2018


SIDE Gallery, Summer Show 2022,  Casavells, Spain / April - Oct. 2022

SIDE Gallery, Summer Show 2022,  Casavells, Spain / April - Oct. 2020

SIDE Gallery, Summer Show 2019,  Casavells, Spain / April - Oct. 2019

Art fairs: Salon Art and Design  NY, USA / Nov. 2019, Design Miami Dec. 2019, Collectible Brussels 2020


Collections:

  • Collection of the Design Museum Gent Gent/ Belgium

  • Collection of the Israel Museum Jerusalem/ Israel

  • Georgetown University Art Galleries Washington, DC / USA

  • V&A Museum of Childhood London /UK

Teaching and Lecturing:

Education:


Awards and achievements:

  • A-Z Residency, Andrea Zittel Joshua Tree, USA / October 2023

  • LOEWE Craft Prize  Tokyo, Japan / June-July 2019  

  • IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) Funding for research project  Jaipur, India / Sept. 2019

  • Best New Surface Award (winner)  London, UK / Oct. 2015 

  • Afri Cola Design Award  Berlin, Germany / May 2011

  • Createurope Award, Goethe Institute  Berlin, Germany / Oct. 2009