Pamela Weissenberg is proud to present emerging artist Sofia Elias's first solo exhibition, Corinthianopodus: The Quinceañera at the Corinthian Spa, S XXI. Sofia Elias (Guadalajara, Jalisco, 1995) has developed a multi-disciplinary practice / she is a sculptor, draftsman, designer and architect. She has set the focus of her production on a playful universe informed by the history of art and architecture. Influenced by the archaeological studies of Ancient Rome by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the exhibition focuses on five detailed ink drawings and colored by hand. An interpretation of the typical cakes used in the celebrations of “las quinceañeras", the coming out party longed for by Mexican adolescents when they turn fifteen. A rite that exists in many cultures marking the transition from childhood to forced maturity. The images of the cakes have been built using the orders of classical architecture: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian; styles that have been an obsession for Elias since her childhood.
Emulating frosting, the Pofi Chairs are interactive sculptures that, despite being self-supporting, invite us to explore the action of falling –depending on weight, chair and position– to find ourselves embracing or dancing with the sculpture. Each one made by hand, they reflect the perfect imperfections, a clash between the fresh and the sticky: an extension of “soft-sculpture”. As a central theme of her practice, Elias plays with the properties of materials and its possibilities. It is from this game that the fundamental question about the function and understanding of a "chair" are born.
SOFIA ELIAS began her fine arts studies at the Bezalel Academy of the Arts and Design in Jerusalem, and completed a Bachelor of Architecture at the Anáhuac University in Mexico City. Since 2019, she launched the successful ephemeral jewelry brand Blobb; and in 2021-22 she made her first two playgrounds, located in the states of Tabasco and in Quintana Roo, Mexico.
© Sofia Elias, Pamela Weissenberg
© Sofia Elias, Pamela Weissenberg