‘SLAUGHTERHOUSE ROAD’ – Sophie Cape
This exhibition at Sydney’s OLSEN Gallery features Sophie Cape’s signature large-scale paintings on canvas. Accessing her internal landscape and the trauma of her past remains the entry point for these powerful and visceral pieces. However there is a clear departure from the cathartic process she has previously endured and a progression toward something quieter. Cape herself describes these works as being about survival and humanity, more universal than personal.
Working within the Yass landscape, Cape has developed a personal lexicon of mark making that includes calligraphic text, scratching, blind drawing and hatching as a vehicle to access the inner state. There is a psychological quality to these works that illuminates both the human experience and the masculine / feminine sides of ourselves. These methods provide an access point into the internal world of the artist. The process of making the works reveals Cape’s emotional state much like a map records a landscape. As a viewer, we empathise in a very instinctive and intuitive way.
Sophie Cape
SLAUGHTERHOUSE ROAD
Olsen Gallery
63 Jersey Rd Woollahra
26 April – 14 May 2017
Gallery hours: Mon- Fri 10-6
Sat 10-5 Sun 11-5
Words: Kate Alstergren
Credits: Olsen Gallery
