Newsletter, UK
May 24, 2005

An exhibition of new works by Sophie Aghajanian is currently on view
at the Mullan Gallery, 239 Lisburn Road, Belfast.

Born in Haifa of Armenian extraction, Sophie moved to London in 1962
to study painting at Ravensbourne College of Art & Design followed by
a post graduate year in printmaking at Brighton School of Art. She
moved to Belfast in 1977 where she still lives and works. Her
paintings have been included in many exhibitions in Ireland and
abroad and are to be found in many public collections including the
Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Bank of Ireland, AIB, Dublin, Bank
Nationale de Paris and the Ulster Museum to name but a few.

She was awarded the Royal Ulster Academy’s Gold Medal in 1983 and was
a prize winner at the Listowel Print Biennale 1982, the Norwegian
International Print Biennale 1983 and Claremorris Open Exhibition, Co
Mayo 1997.

Talking about her work, Sophie says: “I don’t want my work to be
static. I try to paint something that is not necessarily the object,
but goes beyond it and becomes something else. When I stand back from
my painting I sometimes see things emerge that I didn’t know were
there. In the same way it can become whatever the viewer wants it to
become, so that they have a part to play in it as well.” Marie Heany,
writing about the artist, says: “This artist suggests rather than
states, prefers lateral vision to the direct gaze … the tension
between light and dark has been a constant in Sophie Aghajanian’s
work from the beginning. 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.”
The exhibition continues until June 4.