BIG LOOMING ASSEMBLAGES

Posted on July 8, 2020July 8, 2020 Tagged Big Looming Assemblages, Diane Sophrin, SophrinLeave a comment

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.

“The Mind Freezes – József Attila, Brecht, supper conversation about evil”

Posted on June 25, 2020June 25, 2020 Tagged Assembled Spots & Holes, Attila József, Diane Sophrin, Fire!, Sophrin, The Mind FreezesLeave a comment

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

click here to open Fire! in PDF format

“WHERE – VIII”

Posted on June 22, 2020June 22, 2020 Tagged Diane Sophrin, Present Continuous Poems, SophrinLeave a comment

WHERE – VIII

Where
humping gusts
rising falling set
you down
far from home

where
heart wishing
itself hanging
caught on bare branches
like a shred of plastic

where
grounded here by
shallow roots or
bound to foreign
totems

where
was I one
foot raised in flight one
hand on the door one
split second too late

when
barreling
winds exhaling took
breath without
warning and freedom

Careening world
offer breathtaking views
of Chaos
hunting treasures
of a different kind.

– Diane Sophrin
Vermont. 5.26.20

click here to open in PDF format

“DIGGING – X”

Posted on June 19, 2020November 21, 2020 Tagged Diane Sophrin, Digging, Emily Dickinson, Sarajevo filmaker, SophrinLeave a comment

DIGGING – X

Spanish flu got
Old Fritz Drumpf
did you know
arbeit macht frei
senators wheeze
incentivize the workers.

Multi-tasking like
there’s no tomorrow
there’s no tomorrow!
relations crumbling
distance isolating the
known is unknowable.

Heavy clouds press
time plays games
Emily talks of small fabric
while seedlings emerge
in the cold sun
like unwanted children.

The filmmaker from Sarajevo
laughs at his tomato plants
in wartime I read
that somewhere
long ago now
I too am a farmer digging.

– Diane Sophrn
Vermont (6.10.20)

“BITTER – VII”

Posted on June 19, 2020November 21, 2020 Tagged Bitter, brecht, Diane Sophrin, Present Continuous Poems, SophrinLeave a comment

BITTER – VII

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.

– Diane Sophrn
Vermont (6.16.20)

SPOTS OF RETRIBUTION

Posted on June 19, 2020 Tagged Diane Sophrin, Sophrin, Spots of RetributionLeave a comment

     In the dark times
     Will there be singing?
     There will be singing.
     Of the dark times.

– Bertolt Brecht. Svendborg Poems. 1939.

Dark Spots & Black Holes

Posted on June 3, 2020June 3, 2020 Tagged Dark Spots & Black Holes, Diane Sophrin, SophrinLeave a comment

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.

“SO SWEET”

Posted on May 6, 2020May 11, 2020 Tagged Diane Sophrin, Present Continuous Poems, So Sweet, SophrinLeave a comment

SO SWEET

Lies sought
so sweet to so many
on the other hand
facing frontally
finds its own reward.

Two round discs of
dark chocolate
gold coins
deep in the jacket pocket
worn on a warm day
in another time.

– Diane Sophrin
Vermont, 4.5.20

click here to open in PDF format

“Descent – II”

Posted on March 16, 2020May 11, 2020 Tagged Descent, Diane Sophrin, Present Continuous Poems, SophrinLeave a comment

DESCENT – II

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.

– Diane Sophrin
Vermont, 3.11.20

click here to open in PDF format

NEWS AND EXHIBITIONS

Posted on April 23, 2018December 8, 2022 Tagged A Káos Könyve, ajtó - ablak kiállítás, Anticipation, Book of Chaos, Diane Sophrin, Endre Kértesz., Ferenc Takács, Ferencvárosi Historical Museum, Folyamatos jelen, Gábor Juhász, HORIZONT KIÁLLÍTÁS, Island Exhibition, István Sinkó, J.Langdon Art & Antiques, Kováts Albert, Magyar Festők Társasága, Nyitott Műhely, Open Workshop, Present Continuous, RÉSZ > EGÉSZ KIÁLLÍTÁS, Society of Hungarian Painters, Sophrin, SQD Gallery, SQD Gallery Inaugural Exhibition - Anticipation, Stella Quarta Decima Gallery, Studio Place Arts, Sziget kiállítás, Tell Me Exhibition, The Front Gallery, Vízivárosi Galéria, Wetted Scroll Series, Working Through Our Plagues: Recent Paintings by Diane Sophrin, World as Collage and Further ExtrapolationsLeave a comment

GROUP MEMBER EXHIBITION:
SHOW #52 / HOLIDAY MARKET – THE FRONT GALLERY

December 2nd, 2022 – January 1st, 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

GROUP EXHIBITION:
CHRISTMAS – GIFT EXHIBITION / KARÁCSONY – AJÁNDÉK KIÁLLÍTÁS
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS / MFT: MEMBERS’ EXHIBITION

December 1 -12, 2022
Vízivárosi Gallery
Kapás Street 55, Budapest 1027

Opening: December 1, Thursday. 6pm
Remarks by László Hemrik, Art Critic

ONGOING SOLO EXHIBITION:
WORLD AS COLLAGE & FURTHER EXTRAPOLATIONS /
A VILÁG MINT KOLLÁZS ÉS TOVÁBBI EXTRAPOLÁCIÓK

October 20 – December 15, 2022
Ferencvárosi Historical Museum
18 Ráday Street 18 (entrance on 15 Erkel Street)
Budapest 1092

Opening: Thursday, October 20, 2022
Remarks by István Sinkó, painter, art critic, President of the Society of Hungarian Painters
Performance by Endre Kértesz, cello
watch video of opening event here

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.

SOLO EXHIBITION:
BOOK OF CHAOS / A KÁOSZ KÖNYVE

October 3rd – November 2nd, 2022
Open Workshop / Nyított Műhély
Ráth György Street 4
Budapest 1123

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.

GROUP EXHIBITION:
SHOW #51 – THE FRONT GALLERY

October 7th – 30th, 2022
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

NEW GALLERY MEMBERSHIP & GROUP EXHIBITION:
SHOW #50 – THE FRONT GALLERY

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.

Gallery Hours:
Fridays 4-7 pm
Saturdays and Sundays 11am – 5pm or by appointment
(802) 552-0877
info@thefrontvt.com

~~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!

October 2nd – October 30th, 2022
Bakáts Bunker – Underground Kulturális Tér / Underground Cultural Space
1092 Budapest, Bakáts tér 1.

GROUP EXHIBITION:
CITY PICTURE / VÁROS-KÉP KIÁLLÍTÁS
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS JURIED EXHIBITION

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!

WORLD AS COLLAGE PROJECT:
2022 MARCH ARTS MARATHON
CENTRAL VERMONT REFUGEE ACTION NETWORK
Visit my CVRAN page HERE

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

GROUP EXHIBITION:
MIRROR EXHIBITION / TÜKÖR KIÁLLÍTÁS
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS JURIED EXHIBITION

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.

GROUP EXHIBITION:
ANTICIPATION – STELLA QUARTA DECIMA

August 13 – October 31, 2021
Stella Quarta Decima Gallery
3568 Main St., Manchester, Vermont.

This Inaugural Exhibition of SQD Gallery features works by Vermont artists Matthew Monk, James Rauchman, Hannah Morris, Diane Sophrin, Kate Burnim, and Lynn Newcomb.

Sharon Butler reviews the show in her award-winning NYC art blogazine Two Coats of Paint. “Thinking beyond New York City” can be read HERE.

VIRTUAL STUDIO VISIT and LECTURE:
WORKING THROUGH OUR PLAGUES – RECENT PAINTINGS BY DIANE SOPHRIN
BETH JACOB SYNAGOGUE EVENTS PROGRAM

ZOOM presentation: Sunday, May 23rd, 2021.
Beth Jacob Synagogue, Montpelier, Vermont.

Watch the recorded ZOOM event: HERE

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.

GROUP EXHIBITION:
WINDOWS & DOORS EXHIBITION / AJTÓ, ABLAK KIÁLLÍTÁS
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS JURIED EXHIBITION

April 22 – May 10, 2021
FUGA – Budapest Center of Architecture

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:

View online exhibition catalog: 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.

NEW GALLERY REPRESENTATION:
SQD GALLERY

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.

GROUP EXHIBITION:
PART > WHOLE EXHIBITION / RÉSZ > EGÉSZ KIÁLLÍTÁS
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS JURIED EXHIBITION

October 16 – November 15, 2020
Vértes Agorája Modern Art Gallery
Szent Borbála tér 1, Tatabánya

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.

GROUP EXHIBITION:
HORIZON EXHIBITION / HORIZONT KIÁLLÍTÁS
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS JURIED EXHIBITION

September 25 – October 24, 2020
Érdi Gallery
Alsó Street 2, Érd

View online exhibition catalog: HERE

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.

UPCOMING SOLO EXHIBITION:
SMALL BOOK OF CHAOS / A KÁOSZ KIS KÖNYVE

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!

GROUP EXHIBITION:
HOLIDAY EXHIBITION / ÜNNEP KIÁLLÍTÁS
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS JURIED EXHIBITION

2019. november 14 – december 20.
Városi Könyvtár és Galéria, Szigetszentmiklós

View online exhibition catalog: HERE

INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION:
ReVISION: ART AT THE KENT

September 6 – October 6, 2019
Kent Museum, Kents’ Corner, Calais, Vermont

SOLO EXHIBITION:
PRESENT CONTINUOUS: COMMENTARY AND FORM

May 14 – June 29, 2019
Studio Place Arts Third Floor Gallery
201 North Main Street, Barre, VT 05641

GROUP EXHIBITION:
ISLAND EXHIBITION / SZIGET KIÁLLÍTÁS
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS JURIED EXHIBITION

November 6 – 27, 2018
Vízivárosi Gallery
Kapás Street 55
Budapest 1027

View online exhibition catalog: HERE

SOLO EXHIBITION:
WETTED SCROLL SERIES – J.LANGDON EXHIBITION

September 7 – September 30, 2018
J.Langdon Art & Antiques
Montpelier, Vermont 05602

GROUP EXHIBITION:
TELL ME

May 22 – June 30, 2018
Studio Place Arts
201 North Main Street
Barre, VT 05641

SOLO EXHIBITION:
PRESENT CONTINUOUS / FOLYAMATOS JELEN

April 13th – May 15th, 2018
Open Workshop (Nyitott Muhely)
Ráth György Street 4
Budapest 1123

GROUP EXHIBITION:
IN MEMORY OF GÁBOR KARÁTSON / KARÁTSON GÁBOR EMLÉKEZETE
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS JURIED EXHIBITION

MAY 3 – 21, 2018
FUGA – Budapest Center of Architecture

View online exhibition catalog: HERE

GROUP EXHIBITION:
WHITE PAINTINGS / FEHÉR KÉPEK
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS JURIED EXHIBITION

November 16 – December 7. 2017
City Library and Gallery
Szigetszentmiklós

View online exhibition catalog: HERE

GROUP EXHIBITION:
GARDEN OF EXILE / A SZÁMŰZÖTT PARKJA
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS JURIED EXHIBITION

October 5th – 28th, 2017
Széphárom Community Center
Budapest

View online exhibition catalog: HERE

SOLO EXHIBITION:
DIANE SOPHRIN: NEW WORKS AND FREE ASSOCIATIONS
DIALOGS WITH ATTILA JÓZSEF

September 14th – October 14th, 2017
Ferencvárosi Historical Museum
18 Ráday Street 18 (entrance on 15 Erkel Street)
Budapest 1092

FÉSZEK ARTISTS’ CLUB MEMBERSHIP:

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.

FÉSZEK ARTISTS' CLUB

WHITE PAINTINGS / FEHÉR KÉPEK
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS JURIED EXHIBITION

November 16 – December 7. 2017
City Library and Gallery
Szigetszentmiklós

View online exhibition catalog: HERE

GROUP EXHIBITION:
GARDEN OF EXILE / A SZÁMŰZÖTT PARKJA
SOCIETY OF HUNGARIAN PAINTERS JURIED EXHIBITION

October 5th – 28th, 2017
Széphárom Community Center
Budapest

View online exhibition catalog: HERE

SOLO EXHIBITION:
DIANE SOPHRIN: NEW WORKS AND FREE ASSOCIATIONS
DIALOGS WITH ATTILA JÓZSEF

September 14th – October 14th, 2017
Ferencvárosi Historical Museum
18 Ráday Street 18 (entrance on 15 Erkel Street)
Budapest 1092

FÉSZEK ARTISTS’ CLUB MEMBERSHIP:

FÉSZEK ARTISTS' CLUB