August Art Auction Lot 9 - Silence by Sophie Aghajanian
Born in Haifa in 1943, Sophie Aghajanian works as a painter and printmaker. She was educated in Cyprus before moving to London in 1962 to study painting at Ravensbourne College of Art & Design. Between 1966-1967, she attended Brighton College of Art studying printmaking. In 1977, Aghajanian moved to Belfast, working with the Belfast Print Workshop and continuing to paint.
Often focusing on light studies, Aghajanian captures the transformation of objects and colour through shadow and reflection. Whether working in oil, pastel or printing techniques, there is a softness and delicate touch in her dreamlike compositions. In Silence (Lot 9), she captures a still life study with vivid tones of blue and orange, details of bouncing light beams, and the hazy quality of sunlight, elevating a typical composition with her great painterly skill.
Marie Heany wrote on Aghajanian’s work: ‘She’s fascinated by light and its ramifying effects…she talks with equal enthusiasm about the importance of shadows and how she finds them almost more alive than the actual objects. In her work the relationship between light and dark is ambiguous, the balance between them delicately poised and dangerous.’
Aghajanian was elected an RUA Academician in 1987. She has completed a variety of commissions, including prints for the Chester Beatty Library and Graphic Studio print project. She has exhibited at the Tom Caldwell Gallery, the Curwen Gallery, the RUA, and Listowel Graphics. Her work is included in many collections, such as the Museum of Contemporary Graphic Art, Norway, Musée Les Abattoirs, France, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Ulster Museum.
Born in Haifa in 1943, Sophie Aghajanian works as a painter and printmaker. She was educated in Cyprus before moving to London in 1962 to study painting at Ravensbourne College of Art & Design. Between 1966-1967, she attended Brighton College of Art studying printmaking. In 1977, Aghajanian moved to Belfast, working with the Belfast Print Workshop and continuing to paint.
Often focusing on light studies, Aghajanian captures the transformation of objects and colour through shadow and reflection. Whether working in oil, pastel or printing techniques, there is a softness and delicate touch in her dreamlike compositions. In Silence (Lot 9), she captures a still life study with vivid tones of blue and orange, details of bouncing light beams, and the hazy quality of sunlight, elevating a typical composition with her great painterly skill.
Marie Heany wrote on Aghajanian’s work: ‘She’s fascinated by light and its ramifying effects…she talks with equal enthusiasm about the importance of shadows and how she finds them almost more alive than the actual objects. In her work the relationship between light and dark is ambiguous, the balance between them delicately poised and dangerous.’
Aghajanian was elected an RUA Academician in 1987. She has completed a variety of commissions, including prints for the Chester Beatty Library and Graphic Studio print project. She has exhibited at the Tom Caldwell Gallery, the Curwen Gallery, the RUA, and Listowel Graphics. Her work is included in many collections, such as the Museum of Contemporary Graphic Art, Norway, Musée Les Abattoirs, France, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Ulster Museum.