Sophie Ko
Sophie Ko (Tbilisi, 1981) lives and works in Milan. At the core of her artistic practice lies the concept of time, which is explored in its intense symbolic interaction with the materials she employs – mostly ashes of burnt images and pure pigments – and the images created. The change and instability of materials in relation to the flow of time are some of the constants of her artistic research. The Temporal Geographies, for example, provide an exemplification of a series of works eternally suspended between the act of creation and that of destruction, where the image is constantly subjected to a continuous process of modification through the slow and relentless collapse of the material of which it is made. Conceived through a conceptual and formal negotiation between sculpture and painting, these works stage “a bond made of weight, pressure, gravity, and the destruction of time on images, but also of formation, depth, return, and rebirth with respect to the passage of time.” Meaningful metaphors of the caducity and mutability of existence, her works recall the trajectory of life that we trace, parallel to a slow but persistent collapsing movement.
Recent solo shows include: Renata Fabbri, Milan (2015, 2018 and 2023); Contemporary Locus, Bergamo (2023); Postmasters Rome, with Marta Kucsora (2023); Museo Marino Marini, Florence (2022); EAST Galerie, Strasbourg (2022); Galleria de’ Foscherari, Bologna (2016 and 2021–22); BUILDINGBOX, Milan (2021); BUILDING Gallery, Milan (2020); Ca’Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice (2019); The OpenBox, Milan (2018). She has participated in group exhibitions at Palazzo Ducale di Gubbio (2022); Fondazione Malvina Menegaz, Castelbasso (2021); Albergo delle Povere, Palermo (promoted by RISO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Sicily, Palermo) (2021); Palazzo Barbò Torre Pallavicina, Bologna (2021); MAC – Contemporary Art Museum, Lissone (2021); and Renata Fabbri, Milan (2020), among others. In 2016, Sophie Ko won the Lissone Prize for Painting organized by MAC – Contemporary Art Museum, Lissone.
Sophie Ko (Tbilisi, 1981) lives and works in Milan. At the core of her artistic practice lies the concept of time, which is explored in its intense symbolic interaction with the materials she employs – mostly ashes of burnt images and pure pigments – and the images created. The change and instability of materials in relation to the flow of time are some of the constants of her artistic research. The Temporal Geographies, for example, provide an exemplification of a series of works eternally suspended between the act of creation and that of destruction, where the image is constantly subjected to a continuous process of modification through the slow and relentless collapse of the material of which it is made. Conceived through a conceptual and formal negotiation between sculpture and painting, these works stage “a bond made of weight, pressure, gravity, and the destruction of time on images, but also of formation, depth, return, and rebirth with respect to the passage of time.” Meaningful metaphors of the caducity and mutability of existence, her works recall the trajectory of life that we trace, parallel to a slow but persistent collapsing movement.
Recent solo shows include: Renata Fabbri, Milan (2015, 2018 and 2023); Contemporary Locus, Bergamo (2023); Postmasters Rome, with Marta Kucsora (2023); Museo Marino Marini, Florence (2022); EAST Galerie, Strasbourg (2022); Galleria de’ Foscherari, Bologna (2016 and 2021–22); BUILDINGBOX, Milan (2021); BUILDING Gallery, Milan (2020); Ca’Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice (2019); The OpenBox, Milan (2018). She has participated in group exhibitions at Palazzo Ducale di Gubbio (2022); Fondazione Malvina Menegaz, Castelbasso (2021); Albergo delle Povere, Palermo (promoted by RISO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Sicily, Palermo) (2021); Palazzo Barbò Torre Pallavicina, Bologna (2021); MAC – Contemporary Art Museum, Lissone (2021); and Renata Fabbri, Milan (2020), among others. In 2016, Sophie Ko won the Lissone Prize for Painting organized by MAC – Contemporary Art Museum, Lissone.

- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Back to black, 2022Pure pigment, ashes of burned images, 150 x 100 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Una goccia, 2022Pure pigment, 40x40 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Back, 2022Pure pigment, 40x40 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Waldgänger, 2012Unburned remains, 37x28cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Waldgänger, 2012Unburned remains, 37x28 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Waldgänger, 2012Unburned remains, 37x28 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Della Terra I, 2022Pure pigment, 150x80 cm
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Della Terra II, 2022Pure pigment, 150x80 cm
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. In Bloom I, 2021Pure pigment, gold powder, 90x50 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Delle albe e dei tramonti II, 2022Pure pigment, 170x145 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Delle albe e dei tramonti II, 2022Pure pigment, 170x145 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Geografie temporali. Nevica, 2020Pure pigment, ash of burned images, 48x33 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. In Bloom II, 2021Pure pigment, gold powder, 90x50 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Geografie temporali. La pietà del pensiero, 2020Pure pigment, ash of burned images, 48x33 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale, 2019Pure pigment, graphite, 53x93 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Essere nel tempo, 2020Pure pigment, butterfly wings, 60x120 cm
- Sophie Ko, Sporgersi nella notte, 2017Newspaper, butterfly wings and lead, 10×15 cm
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Un campo, 2022Pure pigment, butterfly wings, 70x50 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Una nuvola, 2022Pure pigment, 70x50 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Uccelli degli altri cieli, 2022Pure pigment, ash of burnt images, 70x50 cm
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Cascata, 2022Pure pigment, 70x45 cm. Ph. Alberto Fanelli
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. In fiore, 2021Pigmento puro, 70x40 cm
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Senza titolo, 2022Pure pigment, 70x40 cm
- Sophie Ko, Geografia Temporale. Senza titolo II, 2022Pure pigment, 40x70 cm.
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Aspettando Urbino, 2022Pure pigment, 70x40 cm
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Polvere, 2019Pure pigment, gold dust, 31x21 cm.
- Sophie Ko, Die Blaue Blume (Geografia temporale), 2015Pure pigment, 35x25 cm
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Nel cuore, 2021Ashes of burnt images, pure pigment, 120x65 cm
- Sophie Ko, Geografia temporale. Nel cuore della notte, 2020Pure pigment, flowers, 37x26 cm

- Sophie Ko



- Sophie Ko


- Sophie Ko

- Vlatka Horvat,
- Tim Etchells,
- Sophie Ko
Artissima
2nd – 5th November 2023
Oval | Torino
Main Section
Hall Orange | Booth 12

- Sophie Ko
Contemporary Locus 15, Bergamo
Sept 16 – Nov 5 , 2023
Opening Sept 16, 5 pm
Curated by Paola Tognon

- Sophie Ko
June 30 – July 8, 2023
Monastero del Carmine, Bergamo
Public Studio Visit
Friday July 7, 2023, 7pm
with the collaboration of
Contemporary Locus, Teatro tascabile di Bergamo and FDE Festival Danza Estate

- Sophie Ko
Santa Maria della Scala, Siena
July 14 – Sept 13, 2023
Opening July 13, h. 5.30pm
Curated by Michela Eremita