Discover the contemporary work of Sof
1969 / born in Talence, France
1987-1989 / Studied literature and history / Lycée Henri IV and Paris Sorbonne
1989 -1993 / Master's degree in economics, Paris Dauphine.
Private lessons with Professor R. Leprince, ESAG Penninghen, Paris.
Free auditor at ‚„Académie des Beaux Arts", Paris
1994 / Moves to Germany
1996 - 2001 / Birth of 4 children
1996 / Lives and works in Krefeld
2016 / Opening of the Atelier-Galerie Sof in Krefeld
Awards
2022 / Upcycling Prize, Berlin
2021 / Artistic Grant Transphère in collaboration with 2 French artists Live Painting, Jazz impro and Vijing, MKW, NRW
2021 / Upcycling Grant 2, MKW, NRW
2020 / Upcycling Grant 1, MKW, NRW
Exhibitions (since 2016)
2016:
Sparkasse Saarbrücken: financing of the catalogue „Sof... Tout court“ and l’ Sof workshop Krefeld
Galerie Heidefeld, Krefeld
KVNO, Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein
2017 - 2018:
„Here we go!“ Hessing Stiftung, Augsburg
Verein Kultur Köln 30
Askitis, Düsseldorf
2019 - 2020:
Gallery D000, „ Sof at D000“, Krefeld
Hessing Stiftung, Augsburg
Il Sorriso, Krefeld
BC GmbH, Willich
"V'là spring", Gründerzentrum , Willich
2021:
Die Brille, Krefeld
Brillenlager, Willich
BC GmbH, Willich
Kulturcamp e.v, Kampf-Lintfort
2022:
VKU Forum, Berlin
Permanent exhibitions
M&A Active, Düsseldorf
Wunschanwalt, Düsseldorf
Allcura Versicherung, München und Hamburg
Villa Medici, Krefeld
Leolux, Krefeld
Rehazentrum Come Back, Willich
Praxis Dr. Dieler, Krefeld
Active member
Malkasten, Düsseldorf
Kulturcamp e.v.
Kunst und Raum 21 e.V, Krefeld
Lions Club Barbarossa, Düsseldorf
Publications
2016 Catalog „Sof... Tout court!, Sparkasse Saarbrücken
2014 „100 Künstler -100 Kacheln", Aachen
2013 MPK / MPK Collection Vol. strong>Permanent exhibitions (since 2016)
2016:
Sparkasse Saarbrücken: financing of the catalog „Sof... Tout court“ and the’ Sof workshop Krefeld
Galerie Heidefeld, Krefeld
KVNO, Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein
2017 - 2018:
„Here we go!“ Hessing Stiftung, Augsburg
Verein Kultur Köln 30
Askitis, Düsseldorf
2019 - 2020:
Gallery D000, „ Sof at D000“, Krefeld
Hessing Stiftung, Augsburg
Il Sorriso, Krefeld
BC GmbH, Willich
"V'là spring", Gründerzentrum , Willich
2021:
Die Brille, Krefeld
Brillenlager, Willich
BC GmbH, Willich
Kulturcamp e.v, Kampf-Lintfort
>2022:
VKU Forum, Berlin
Exhibitions permanent
M&A Active, Düsseldorf
Wunschanwalt, Düsseldorf
Allcura Versicherung, München und Hamburg
Villa Medici, Krefeld
Leolux, Krefeld
Rehazentrum Come Back,
Praxis Dr. Dieler, Krefeld
Member active >
Publications
2016 Catalogs „Sof... Tout court!, Sparkasse Saarbrücken
2014 „100 Künstler -100 Kacheln", Aachen
2013 MPK / MPK Collection Volume II
2012 Catalog "Tête-à-tête en têtes", Cabinet Bizouard, Frankreich
1969 / born in Talence, France
1987-1989 / Literature and history studies / Lycée Henri IV and Paris Sorbonne
1989 -1993 / Master's degree in economics, Paris Dauphine.
Private lessons with Professor R. Leprince, ESAG Penninghen, Paris.
Auditor at ‚„Académie des Beaux Arts", Paris
1994 / Move to Germany
1996 - 2001 / Birth of 4 children
1996 / Lives and works in Krefeld
2016 / Opening of the Atelier-Galerie Sof in Krefeld
Prize
2022 / Upcycling Prize, Berlin
2021 / Transphère Grant in collaboration with 2 French artists, MKW, NRW
2021 / Upcycling Grant 2, MKW, NRW
2020 / Upcycling Grant 1, MKW, NRW
Permanent exhibitions (since 2016)
2016:
Sparkasse Saarbrücken: financing of the catalog „Sof... Tout court“ and ; Sof workshop Krefeld
Galerie Heidefeld, Krefeld
KVNO, Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein
2017 - 2018:
„Here we go!“ Hessing Stiftung, Augsburg
Verein Kultur Köln 30
Askitis, Düsseldorf
2019 - 2020:
Gallery D000, „ Sof at D000“, Krefeld
Hessing Stiftung, Augsburg
Il Sorriso, Krefeld
BC GmbH, Willich
"V'là spring", Gründerzentrum , Willich
2021:
Die Brille, Krefeld
Brillenlager, Willich
BC GmbH, Willich
Kulturcamp e.v, Kampf-Lintfort
>2022:
VKU Forum, Berlin
Exhibitions permanent
M&A Active, Düsseldorf
Wunschanwalt, Düsseldorf
Allcura Versicherung, München und Hamburg
Villa Medici, Krefeld
Leolux, Krefeld
Rehazentrum Come Back,
Praxis Dr. Dieler, Krefeld
Member active >
Publications
2016 Catalogs „Sof... Tout court!, Sparkasse Saarbrücken
2014 „100 Künstler -100 Kacheln", Aachen
2013 MPK / MPK Collection Volume II
2012 Catalog "Tête-à-tête en têtes", Cabinet Bizouard, Frankreich
1969 / born in Talence, France
1987-1989 / Literature and history studies / Lycée Henri IV and Paris Sorbonne
1989 -1993 / Master's degree in economics, Paris Dauphine.
Private lessons with Professor R. Leprince, ESAG Penninghen, Paris.
Auditor at ‚„Académie des Beaux Arts", Paris
1994 / Move to Germany
1996 - 2001 / Birth of 4 children
1996 / Lives and works in Krefeld
2016 / Opening of the Atelier-Galerie Sof in Krefeld
Prize
2022 / Upcycling Prize, Berlin
2021 / Transphère Grant in collaboration with 2 French artists, MKW, NRW
2021 / Upcycling Grant 2, MKW, NRW
2020 / Upcycling Grant 1, MKW, NRW
Permanent exhibitions (since 2016)
2016:
Sparkasse Saarbrücken: financing of the catalog „Sof... Tout court“ and ; Sof workshop Krefeld
Galerie Heidefeld, Krefeld
KVNO, Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein
2017 - 2018:
„Here we go!“ Hessing Stiftung, Augsburg
Verein Kultur Köln 30
Askitis, Düsseldorf
2019 - 2020:
Gallery D000, „ Sof at D000“, Krefeld
Hessing Stiftung, Augsburg
Il Sorriso, Krefeld
BC GmbH, Willich
"V'là spring", Gründerzentrum , Willich
2021:
Die Brille, Krefeld
Brillenlager, Willich
BC GmbH, Willich
Kulturcamp e.v, Kampf-Lintfort
>2022:
VKU Forum, Berlin
Exhibitions permanent
M&A Active, Düsseldorf
Wunschanwalt, Düsseldorf
Allcura Versicherung, München und Hamburg
Villa Medici, Krefeld
Leolux, Krefeld
Rehazentrum Come Back,
Praxis Dr. Dieler, Krefeld
Member active >
Publications
2016 Catalogs „Sof... Tout court!, Sparkasse Saarbrücken
2014 „100 Künstler -100 Kacheln", Aachen
2013 MPK / MPK Collection Volume II
2012 Catalog "Tête-à-tête en têtes", Cabinet Bizouard, Frankreich
STATEMENT
My art inspires self-reflection and opens new perspectives by capturing intense and profound snapshots of life. It creates a varied, humorous and harmonious world in which philosophical questions and personal insights find their place and invite positive change.
In painting as in sculpture, it is always difficult for me to characterize my entire work. What constantly surprises is its versatility.
However, there is always a common thread: the play with the mixture of techniques and styles and the harmony of colors.
I am a multitasking artist. Unable to stay still, I do not know boredom and do not tolerate repetition. I always work in parallel on several works, often in completely different styles. My 400 m2 studio is full of canvases and upcycling works of all kinds and all formats, preferably large.
My workplace is a real minefield, where I navigate between three large easels, the ground vaguely protected by giant cardboard boxes, themselves covered with other works in progress, of smaller formats... The tubes of paint, pigments, lacquers, sprays, brushes, rollers, spatulas are scattered in the middle or soak in large buckets of water.
My paintings are most often colorful and of very varied styles: impressionist, expressionist, modern, abstract, pop-art, turnable canvases... indefinite!
Most often on canvas, I also paint on wood, paper or fabrics. I also like collages.
In my small formats, I mix paint with used and expired materials. Pieces of dried-out paint palettes are transformed into small, colorful characters, called “Malpalettes“.
Old music scores, records or old newspapers serve as a backdrop for silhouettes of characters. These works are often in black and white, based on fluid acrylic paints.
Since my childhood, I have always kept and collected old books, toys, posters, old objects and furniture, tools... I naturally ended up also diving into the fascinating world of upcycling. It is then a question of transforming forgotten treasures into works of art.
The collaboration with a window decorator led me to use old mismatched window mannequins, the meeting with a recycler in the aeronautics industry, aircraft parts, markets, flea markets and many coincidences, agricultural parts, furniture, fabrics, frames, lamps...
My workshop for upcycling is also filled with machines, tools and materials useful for the creation of my works.
These are also of all formats, sometimes imposing and heavy!
In 2022 I won an Upcycling prize in Berlin with a work entitled
„En marche“, the main piece of which is made up of an airplane part, but also pieces of one of our children's beds.
THE PAINTER SOF: SOPHIE VOIGT-CHADEYRON
OR THE VIRTUOSITY IN COLOR
Galerie Heidefeld & Partner
Sophie Voigt-Chadeyron is a girl convinced of artistic freedom. She follows her own path - and takes the sovereign freedom to take the most diverse directions on this path and to leave multiple traces. These are the traces of her forms of expression realized with virtuosity: Sophie Voigt-Chadeyron, working under her artist name Sof, she surprises with the thematic breadth and pictorial polyphony of her work. But in Sof's universe, the common denominator of her pictorial language is her vibrant passion for color.
Man and his existence
These are in some way the colors of life and in particular of the joy of living and an affirmation of life that she wants to express, while remaining perfectly aware of the dark sides of existence. Thus, her painting focuses above all on one subject: "My main theme is and remains the human being," she says. And this human being sometimes has the astonishing capacity to "sneak" beyond of the true intentions of the painter. Sof: "Even when I don't absolutely want to see it, it always appears on my paintings, as if by chance. I force myself and often try to forget it. One of my techniques is then to simply turn the canvas over... "
How does this happen? An example: Sof draws a landscape in sparkling colors, which shows how his painting knows - willingly - how to use stylistic figures of pointillism and impressionism in an expressive way. But the result, the pure play of colors, is not always enough for him. The painter then breaks up this painting with a rather impulsive composition: in the centre appears the white, naked figure of a completely abstract man. With this element, the artist deepens and completes the overall effect of her painting. Such pure white abstract figures appear in many of Sophie Voigt-Chadeyron's paintings. Their special feature is the minimalist narrowness of these figures, a narrowness that recalls the sculptures of Alberto Giacometti (although without their large, greatly oversized feet). Human silhouettes stand out from nature and the landscape.
"Humaine nature" : the omnipresence of man.
Nature in general always plays a leading role in Sof's work.
"Pond" is a key term for an important source of inspiration for this Frenchwoman. Since childhood, she has loved Claude Monet's paintings, especially those depicting ponds and water lilies. This establishes a direct line with her penchant for the frequent use of stylistic devices related to Impressionism. Sophie Voigt-Chadeyron is also interested in atmospheres, snapshots reflecting states of mind and spirituality, which she wants to make the viewer feel. Because her main subject remains man. "Clouds, trees, plants: ever since I was a child, nature in general has demanded human features," she explains, describing a significant evolution. "Always and everywhere, I discover human faces and forms, even if I don't necessarily want to perceive them."
The nature in this artist's paintings is an animated nature. Thus, the attentive viewer can always discover anonymous faces and elements or allusions to human forms in her works. Sophie Voigt-Chadeyron has found a term for such images that she likes to use: "Humaine nature", human nature.
Virtuoso and versatile - also in her sculptural art.
"Sophie Voigt-Chadeyron is a contemporary artist with an expressive chromatic gesture, inventive refinement and virtuosity "exciting" is how gallery owner Egon Heidefeld characterizes the painter, whose varied oeuvre has been represented by the Heidefeld & Partner gallery for many years. These include uniform, smooth compositions, works with glazed paint application that use a once again virtuoso and expressive pictorial language.
Her tireless creative force and the thematic breadth of her works do not extend to painting alone: Sof regularly devotes herself to upcycling work. She likes to use natural materials - for example branches, twigs, wood in general, old shop window mannequins, fabrics - and combines them with elements from the (everyday) world of technology. These object compositions and Sof's sculptures in general are varied configurations of a creative imagination that fascinates and often astonishes the viewer.
Eclecticism also characterizes her biography. Sophie Voigt-Chadeyron was born in 1969 in Caudéran, in the Médoc.
Henri IV and at the Sorbonne in Paris, then turned to business management; with a master's degree in economics. At the same time, Sof developed her artistic training: The Frenchwoman took private painting and drawing lessons with Professor Rémi Leprince and was an auditor at the Académie des BEAUX ARTS in Paris. Since 1994, Sophie Voigt-Chadeyron has lived in Germany, she is a wife and mother of four children. Since 2003 she has been working as an independent artist and since 2016 with her own new and very large studio in an atmospheric building in the Gründerzeit, which was once a weaving workshop.
2016
