“To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders”
Zhuang Zhou (369-286 BC)
Sophie-Elizabeth Thompson is a British artist, working from her studio in Barcelona.
Her creative work is expressed in both sculpture and drawing. All her work is a result of an ongoing exploration of form and mark — it is abstract in the purest sense. Working in different media including plaster and clay to create final pieces in bronze, marble, resin and also bespoke stoneware ceramic sculptures.
The process
All her artistic output is a natural intuitive response to the world around her. Inspired by both natural and manmade forms and their physical relationship to each other in life. It is details that inspire her; elements of the whole, out of context, that can reference delicate bone forms, industrial architectural structures; fluid forms and the often ignored negative space between objects.
Her creative process is defined by instinctive investigation of shape and form. The art reveals itself in this dynamic approach, as the artist continually searches for the poetic and essential in a subconscious fresh mark. All her artistic observation and ideas, creation and creativity are a result of this evolving explorative practice.
Philosophy
When I am in my studio, during my creative process, there is a moment, sometimes after only minutes of working and sometimes after hours of working, where I suddenly feel completely at peace. Where time appears to stand still in absolute tranquility. That sense of harmony that can only exist in the stillness and perfection of the present moment. This is the gap between thoughts, the moment that transcends time and space and our perceived reality where the purest of form and mark are created. It is an instinctive process where no thoughts can penetrate and the subconscious mind allows inspiration to flow into form.
It is this present moment where all of my art works are created through an automatic, instinctive process of artistic investigative movement though my hands. All of my previous experiences, all that I have previously seen and known influence what I create with my hands in these moments as I allow my subconscious mind to flow calmly and with clarity.