Halfway there, 12.26 West, Los Angeles, 2021

Looking Forward 2021 oil on canvas 9x7,5x2cm

Beyond the Negotiation of Facts 2021 oil on canvas 9x7,5x2cm

How to name it and where to begin 2021 oil on wood 9x7,5x2cm

Halfway There 2021 oil on canvas 9x7,5x2cm

Shame and Hospitality 2021 oil on wood 4,3x3,3x1,2cm

Trustworthy 2021 oil on wood 9x7,5x2cm

Shame and Hospitality 2021 oil on wood 4,3x3,3x1,2cm

Fishy River 2021 oil and pen on canvas ~18x30cm by Antoine Carbonne and Sophie Varin aka Jean-Michel

PRESS RELEASE

12.26 West is pleased to present Sophie Varin: Halfway There, a series of new paintings by the French-born, Belgium-based artist. In this series of miniature paintings, Varin presents a hazy tour through brightly colored mountains, fields, and houses, where strange encounters with unknown faces and figures take place. As seen through the eyes of a roaming onlooker, most scenes are witnessed from afar. The small physical scale of the paintings coupled with the blurred quality of the picture enhances a feeling of unsatisfied curiosity. While the bird’s eye view proposes a powerful authority over these brightly colored landscapes, everything is seen from great length. The distance as well as the uncertainty of the image, urges the viewer to focus on what remains inaccessible and fantasize on what could be missing. Through this unsettling perception, what does become clear is that there is no real plot but instead, perhaps, a setting for a dream.