Sofia Mitsola works primarily with painting, using oils on canvas and linen to develop a wide host of characters. Drawing on her Greek heritage, Mitsola digs into the feminine figures within Greek mythology and other sources such as Egyptian Folklore, or the Bible, reimagining these women and mythical creatures in a playful, empowered lens. This methodology links Mitsola to artists such as Eileen Agar, Ana Mendieta or Nancy Spero. Often working in large scale, Mitsola will exaggerate the curvatures of these bodies, creating naked towering figures who are set in flat, abstracted backgrounds. Operating in a high-octane palette of bright pinks, reds, and rich blues and greens, geometric patterns, and languid lines sit in contrast to these unbashful female figures, staring directly at the viewer. In the artist’s own words “I want my figures to be like Medusa and the evil eye. If you stand with them, relating to them, you are protected. And if you stand against them, they become your worst nightmare”. Treading the boundaries between voyeurism, pleasure and solidarity, Mitsola’s works directly engage audiences in a discourse around the position of the female form within both an art historical lens and its wider perceptions within contemporary culture. ...
