Sophie Derrick

 ‘I’m obsessed with the materiality and substance of paint and with the human form, and in my work these two things collide. I love the play between dualities within the work; photography and painting, the real and the abstract, absence and presence, the tactile paint and the flat image. I’m interested in image making, especially of the human form, and aim to make work that pushes the boundaries of deception and representation, and to create work that is visually arresting and intriguing.’

Sophie Derrick’s work reimagines portraiture by merging painting and photography. She paints onto her skin, photographs the process and then paints over the photographic prints creating layered compositions that blur the boundaries between painted and photographic imagery. The subject’s identity is obscured beneath layers of paint, questioning traditional portraiture and transforming the body into both object and subject.

Through bold colours, layered techniques, and a focus on the materiality of paint, her work distorts reality, creating abstracted portraits that explore dualities such as presence versus absence and reality versus fiction. Sophie has been shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award and The Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize, exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and her work is held in collections worldwide.