A collection of free-standing pieces, an aggregate of fragments, these individual double-sided pieces could eventually become combined in fixed and defined arrangements, or conversely, they could remain flexible and variable forever, offering new configurations responsive to the particulars of an exhibition oppportunity. For now they remain stacked and bundled together in the studio, and what is show here is just one group of possible assemblages.
Click on any image below for larger images seen sequentially.
Said I would post something today, a poem relevant to our day by a poet relevant to our times, an image or a word or two of mine. Nearly four pm, the afternoon wanes. It’s been a beautiful day, a good day. Kept busy to tamp down the darkness. Stacking wood – good. Shoveling compost – good. Planting seedlings – good. Whitewashing paper – good. Tearing more circles for new Spots and Holes – good, although don’t know what to do with the fact that these circles of mine resemble transmission electron microscopy images of covid – had no idea.
Still, thoughts intrude, disturb – troubling Brecht poems about no meat, bad bread, potatoes speaking dire warnings… disturbing poems, not relevant says the censor within… those were the shortages of other war-times. Not like here and now – the likelihood of descent into scarcity and deprivation can’t can’t happen here and now… unless you are among the millions of unemployed, homeless, poor. But I mean the bones, the infrastructure of production, supply and distribution of food. So why then did I plant my garden this year after all? Why stock up on gesso on glue sticks on paper on brown rice and beans on dental floss and toilet paper?
I won’t post Brecht’s Dream of a Great Bellyache now. Instead, let me offer Attila József and his poem Fire! about maddening vision in dark times. Attila József was a great discovery for me back in 2017; that discovery resulting in my large Dialogs with József Attila project, specifically the piece Fire! (Dialog with József Attila – 8).
Had a conversation over supper about evil. What is the motive, the inner construction of these beings who want to end health care, end unemployment insurance, end virus testing and protective measures in the midst of this raging pandemic? What will that get them, how will it protect their pleasuring themselves of their wealth and power? How can they gain from withholding even the crumbs that others deigned to scatter? There is no dictionary to translate this. The mind freezes.
I read it in the daily news that the EU will soon decide about exclusion of Americans – that’s me! – although the numbers are quite low in Vermont (counting my numbers and weighing my risk, like Germans of mixed blood counted their percents). Not that I blame the Europeans now, after all, our mad mussolini decreed some months back that Europeans could not enter the US – and more to the point, who now would want any virus-ridden Americans?
Time for a Plan B. If I am to be exiled, there must be creative solutions to live with that. Ideas gestate – in case.
Meanwhile this pertinent poem by Attila József. New images of Assembled Spots and Holes will follow in the next post.
– Diane Sophrin Vermont. June 24, 2020
FIRE! by Attila Jószef
Fire! The mill’s on fire! Don’t hurt me, it’s not my fault. Oh God, maybe the fire’s in me! I really thought I saw a fire, maybe it was a dream, an omen. That’s why I scream: Fire! Fire! It’s a great, roaring, raging fire. It’s gangly arms flailing toward the sky, there’s this white glow inside but it singes everything in sight. Doesn’t anyone feel it? Only me? Did all the Hungarians die already? All the men and all the women? But here they are walking around. Are they flesh and blood? Or robots? They go to movies, eat and drink. They don’t give a dog’s dick what I think. Can they even hear me? Or is it just me? We have plenty of wheat, plenty of flour. Will it be better once the angels come and bake us sweet-bread from smoke? Look! Fire! You are walking into fire. If you see me, it’s the vision of a lunatic. He’s seen your death. You’d better believe it. At night, in front of your eyes he’ll appear, whisper the hot roar of silence in your ear. Flames will spew from his raging mouth. Your death? Now that I don’t know much about. I just plant myself in your ear, trembling, roaring like a town crier: Fire! Fire! Fire!
Early 1924 Translation by Peter Hargitai
Attila József Selected Poems iUniverse, Inc. Lincoln, Nebraska. 2005
Brecht says they had it worse back then and there though we’ve got our own raging contagion our own seething mad brute at the top at the bottom gleefully squeezing spreading the worst humanity can excrete like rancid manna.
They only had bitter evil back there and then so you see it could get worse again again though not disease that too but let’s speak now of just bitter evil.
These pieces are made up of 33 double-sided acrylic-stained paper components – some are full sheets of paper, some rectangles with holes and some, the torn out circles which created the holes. Not stitched together, these parts can be re-arranged into countless assemblages. Below is a selection of 32 paired assemblages. Some components reappear in these different configurations. They can be viewed as a selected series below, or by clicking on any image, can be seen sequentially, one by one.
Thrust out of bed
I descend
lost trembling
at the cold white table again
bundled in thick green sweater
gold scarf and black beret
scalding tea
slides down my grateful gullet.
Staying put it seems again the door clangs shut this black guillotine cutting off air severing words and laughter in a different tongue.
February 7 – 23, 2025 The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com Montpelier Art Walk Opening Reception: Friday, November 6, 4-8 PM
LATEST SOLO EXHIBITION: DIANE SOPHRIN. Chaos and Catharsis: Works on a Continuum
January 3 – February 2, 2025 THE FRONT GALLERY 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com
Opening Reception: Friday January 3, 4:00-7:00 PM. Artist’s Talk: Saturday January 18, 2:00 – 4:00 PM A full video of the entire talk and stimulating discussion that followed can now be seen on the Front Gallery’s website: Link to Diane Sophrin’s Talk
“CHAOS AND CATHARSIS, WORKS ON A CONTINUUM” presents selections from past decades of work done in Vermont and Budapest. The “Reconstructed Fragments Series” (2011), “Fragmentum Series” (2013), “Dialogs with József Attila Series” (2017), and my latest large collages “21st Century Icon Series” all focus on a continuum of fragmentation and chaos, reunification and repair, exploring through collage and paint themes more pertinent than ever.
Start this new year in the company of like-minded friends & colleagues at The Front Gallery, looking at art that challenges and empowers!
December 6 – 29, 2024 The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com Montpelier Art Walk Opening Reception: Friday, November 6, 4-8 PM
October 4 – 27, 2024 The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com Montpelier Art Walk Opening Reception: Friday, October 4, 4-8 PM
The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com Montpelier Art Walk Opening Reception: August 2, 4-8 PM
June 7 – 30, 2024 The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com Montpelier Art Walk Opening Reception: Friday June 7, 4-8 PM
The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com
Montpelier Art Walk Opening Reception: Friday April 5, 4-8 PM
February 2 – 25, 2024 The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com Montpelier Art Walk Opening Reception: Friday, February 2, 4-8
The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com
October 6 – 29, 2023 The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com Montpelier Art Walk Opening Reception: Friday, October 6, 4 – 7. featuring work by 22 Front members
August 4 – August 27, 2023 The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com
SOLO EXHIBITION: DIANE SOPHRIN: EXTRAPOLATIONS & COMMENTARY
JULY 7 – 30, 2023 THE FRONT GALLERY 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com
“EXTRAPOLATIONS & COMMENTARY” presents three years of interconnected work; the double-sided Split Commentary Revisited Series” (2021), the unmounted double-sided “World as Collage Project” (2022) and the newest “Winter Extrapolations” all follow common threads of concept and presentation,often using prior solutions to develop and build new visual constructs. Process as subject continues to be a driving force in my work, as does an abstracted figural reference, building on my past decades of observational figurative work.
June 2 – July 2, 2023 The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com
Opening Saturday, April 29th Remarks by Révész Emese, Art Historian Sinkó István, painter, art critic and President of the of Society of Hungarian Painters
The Tendenciák Exhibition presents works by over 300 members of the Society of Hungarian Painters in Szeged’s gorgeous Art Nouveau REŐK Palace Art Center.
A few words about my piece in this exhibit: “Tendencies of the 8th Variation”. Created as a triptych, each of the three acrylic on prepared, folded paperpieces was sent separately in an individual, normal envelope by normal airmail from Vermont to Budapest. As I explained to Sinko István it was a bit of a conceptual/mail art game: depending on how many arrived, the artwork could either be a triptych, diptych, or a single piece. One single envelope arrived, so a long, narrow piece took its place in the exhibition, along with documentation of the endeavor. I’ve been playing with pieces, fragments, presentations and carrying of work for years. One of the more practical reasons behind this particular game was the craziness of couriers and customs over the past few years. So I played with them, and one of my new works managed to slip under the radar entirely. Very appropriate for this new world!
The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont Gallery Hours: Fridays 4-7 pm Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment (802) 552-0877 info@thefrontvt.com
Montpelier Art Walk Opening Reception: Friday, October 6th, 4 – 7. featuring work by 22 Front members
GROUP EXHIBITION: CHRISTMAS – GIFT EXHIBITION / KARÁCSONY – AJÁNDÉK KIÁLLÍTÁS SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS / MFT: MEMBERS’ EXHIBITION
December 1st – 12th, 2022 Vízivárosi Gallery Kapás Street 55, Budapest 1027
Opening: December 1, Thursday. 6pm Remarks by László Hemrik, Art Critic
SOLO EXHIBITION: WORLD AS COLLAGE & FURTHER EXTRAPOLATIONS / A VILÁG MINT KOLLÁZS ÉS TOVÁBBI EXTRAPOLÁCIÓK
October 20th – December 15th, 2022 Ferencvárosi Historical Museum 18 Ráday Street 18 (entrance on 15 Erkel Street) Budapest 1092
Based on the World as Collage project completed in the spring of this year, a new series of mixed-media works was created in the very room in which the exhibition is currently displayed. During a three-week solo residency at the Ferencvárosi Historical Museum in Budapest’s ninth district, visitors stopped by to watch as the work unfolded in situ. This exhibition presents the 21 original double-sided collages, subsequent traced drawings and sixteen of the new eighteen double-sided works as well as visual documentation of the sequential process.
Opening: Monday, October 3rd, 2022. 7:00 PM Remarks by Ferenc Takács, literary historian Performance by guitarist Gábor Juhász Watch video of opening event here.
August 5th – August 28th, 2022. The Front Gallery 6 Barre St., Montpelier, Vermont
Now a member of this small, vibrant artist-run cooperative gallery, my work is in good company! This current group exhibition includes work by all 23 members.
TRUTHS FROM THE BUNKER Indefinitely postponed due to problems in The Bunker. That’s the way things go these days. Would have been an interesting venue, perhaps another time!
May 6th – June 10th, 2022 A Vértes Agorája Contemporary Gallery Cultural Center of Tatabánya Tatabánya, Szent Borbála Tér 1.
Opening: Friday, May 6th, 5:00pm. Remarks by Eszter Molnár, art historian
A new photomontage, “A Város (City at War – I)” finally made it to Budapest after an inexplicably tortuous adventure in the depths of the Budapest Customs facilities! It joins the works of 53 Hungarian artists in this juried members exhibition. Another art event experienced in abstentia. My work is happy to be among colleagues!
This community fundraiser aims to give succor to current and future asylum seekers in Central Vermont. Looking back at our own family histories, many of us came from the “Old” to the “New” world as penniless immigrants and refugees as well, who with the help of others went on to establish lives and raise future generations. Now it’s our turn.
Lend a hand to the newcomers in our midst and in return for your support, be my virtual studio guest during the entire month March! Receive daily emailed posts of new and developing visual pieces; poems, thoughts and musings; music and history. In short, I offer you a month of virtual “visits” to my studio via image, word and sound!
So far the WORLD AS COLLAGE PROJECT has eighteen sponsors. Great thanks to all the friends and donors for their support
Darryl Bloom Kate Burnim Deborah Davidson Wendy Derevensky Priscilla Fox Dovid Fried Lew Friedland Carol Friedman Laura Gurton Ellien P. Hayes Michelle Lesnak Kenneth MacInnes Shana Margolin Phyllis Rubenstein Sally Seymour Walter and Laura Sophrin Janet Van Fleet Lynn Wild
October 22nd – November 13th, 2021 Újpest Gallery Budapest. Árpád Boulevard 66.
Opening: Friday, October 22nd, 6:00pm. Remarks by Henrik László (Ludwig Museum)
My newest piece, Mirror Test/Tükör Teszt has made it to Budapest in three days, to take its place alongside works by 78 Hungarian artists in this latest juried exhibition of the Society’s members.
I have worked a great deal over this past year; that effort serving as both anchor and compass during these challenging times! Now it’s a pleasure to be able to share this recent work. Join me in my studio via Zoom to see and learn about this new body of work.
Online opening: April 23rd, 2021 Remarks by Ferenc Matits, art historian Musical performance by István Grencsó Stream live or watch afterwards on the FUGA You Tube channel HERE:
Yet another trans-Atlantic voyage for my works, yet another exhibition filled with new and exciting works by my Hungarian colleagues and friends but empty of the artists themselves. The same creative impulse that impels the Society, its president Albert Kováts and the members to continue working and exhibiting is what inspired me to make my latest Ajtó, ablak pieces and ship them halfway across the world to Budapest. FUGA is a great place and is doing a wonderful job documenting and presenting all their current events – lectures, concerts and art exhibitions.
A new regional gallery, SQD GALLERY (Stella Quarta Decima) has opened its virtual doors, with actual exhibitions in the works for this coming summer. Founder and curator Benjamin Ward has chosen six Vermont artists to represent. I am pleased to be among them and a part of this new initiative.
Visit the SQD website HERE to view the work and learn about the gallery and artists.
My latest collage pieces Spherical Fragments remarkably made it to Budapest in three days where they joined the works of 46 Hungarian colleagues in the public gallery of the City Art Center of Tatabánya, not far from Budapest. In the midst of the pandemic this group exhibition opened, with commentary offered by Balázs Feledy, art critic and writer.
What a world! I remain embedded for better and for worse here in Vermont. Nevertheless, my work, the first of the Spheres of Destiny series made expressly for this exhibit, was submitted digitally as usual, accepted by the jury, and shipped via FedEx to Budapest where it joins the works of 49 Hungarian colleagues in the public gallery of Érd, just outside Budapest.
RESCHEDULED FOR FALL, 2021! originally scheduled: April 28 – May 30, 2020 Open Workshop / Nyított Műhély Ráth György Street 4 Budapest 1123
On March 17, 2020, the Corona Virus descended upon the world. Borders closed and flights were cancelled. I never left Vermont. As of January 9, 2021, the situation continues to worsen and travel remains impossible. This exhibition has just been postponed again and is now tentatively re-scheduled for the Fall of 2021!
Diane Sophrin is honored to be accepted as a member of this creative arts organization for painters, architects, sculptors, musicians, singers and actors. Read more here and here about this historically significant Hungarian creative arts organization founded in Budapest in 1901.
Diane Sophrin is honored to be accepted as a member of this creative arts organization for painters, architects, sculptors, musicians, singers and actors. Read more here and here about this historically significant Hungarian creative arts organization founded in Budapest in 1901.
Diane Sophrin 
