February 2011
Sonia Olaniyan displayed a mixture of her delicate paper sculptures and mixed media paintings.
Throughout her work the influence of her previous career as an antiques dealer is apparent, whether in the aging magazines used as backgrounds, the tiny lace details, or the feelings of nostalgia that are evoked in the viewer.
Sonia says of her work;
‘Over many years of gaining practice and experience I have developed a style of painting that is rapid and fluid, I quite often find myself working the canvas with a loaded brush in both hands; it would seem that this ambidextrous painting technique does not manifest itself at will, rather, it is a unintentional quality which emerges when I am utterly absorbed in my work. The result of using both hands to paint is visible within my painting and so there is often a contrast of controlled and frenzied brush work.
My most recent works have been produced with an honest and mature method of painting which relies on suggestion, tone and application. The subject matter of my paintings is generally without narrative, they are simple and uncomplicated snippets of everyday life. My work is a study of gesture and posture, and whilst there is an avoidance of photographic-like precision, the finished works are always a recognizable representation of the subject. Any aesthetic value is a focused choice but more often than not it is secondary to the finality of the work. As with most artists, my practice is an ever- evolving path of development and experiment; these factors of process are inadvertently recorded visually within my work.’
See more of Sonia’s work at http://www.sonia-olaniyan.co.uk
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