Sophia Pauley (b. 1994, Cardiff) is a Welsh artist living and working in London. She completed her MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2023, following a First-Class degree in Painting from Edinburgh College of Art in 2018. She was awarded the Artist’s Collecting Society 12-Month Studio Residency and, in 2022, won the Royal Scottish Academy WASPS Award, leading to her first solo exhibition in Glasgow.
Sophia fluidly shifts between painting, drawing and sculptural installation, conveying the intense feelings of nostalgia and emotion attached to attempting to succeed in elite performance sport. The obsessive, repetitive process-led studio production mirrors the immersion of mind and body when training. Sophia’s work comprises an ever-changing material exploration, often finding ways beyond the traditional modes of painting, resulting in three dimensional wall and floor based works. Her work reflects the parallels and contradictions of the concept of ‘flow’: an analysis of adrenaline, attention and control.