Sophie Cape
Video tour: Sophie Cape - Dark Shimmer Rust
OLSEN GalleryMay 2023
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Sophie Cape DARK SHIMMER RUST
Video tour: Sophe 'Cape Soliloquy'
OLSEN GalleryMay 2022
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Sophie Cape Soliloquy
Sophie Cape's exhibition 'Flash Point'
Richard MorecroftNovember 2020
Sophie Cape’s paintings are elemental – seemingly made of fire and snow, earth and blood. And the truth is not far from that; the huge works are impregnated with the ash and soil and bones and metal fragments on the ground in the locations where the works were created. As a past Olympic-level athlete, Sophie’s process is explosively physical, with violently cathartic struggles on the canvas. But as she explains to Richard Morecroft, the controlled mark of her hand is in evidence too, with subtle drawing and mysterious calligraphy.
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Sophie Cape Flash Point
Sophie Cape video tour
November - December 2020Video tour of Sophie Cape's 2020 exhibition at OLSEN Gallery, Woollahra
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Sophie Cape Flash Point
Ghosts of the past: The art of Julian Meagher, Sophie Cape, Chris Langlois and Alan Jones
Andrew McIlroyAndrew McIlroy
2 October 2019
The Eveleigh Railway Workshops once an imposing symbol of modernity speaks to another time. The vast old wrought iron roof sheltered and brought together hundreds of workers – hardened men from Sydney’s gritty inner suburbs, newly arrived migrants and indigenous peoples from neighbouring Redfern. Despite the harsh, choking conditions working on heavy steam powered rail machinery presents, those that endured spoke of its heart and soul, of forged friendships that would last a lifetime.
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Margaret Quilter
Issue 22 | 2018
Sophie Cape’s unusual path to life as an artist is also her biggest asset.
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Sophie Cape Maelstrom
Sophie Cape at OLSEN Gallery opening
November 2018Sophie Cape at the opening of her latest exhibition Maelstrom, November 2018 Part 1 of 2
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Sophie Cape Maelstrom
AUSTRALIAN STORY: Adrenaline Brush: Sophie Cape
2017Described as more like a “rock star” than a painter, Sophie Cape never wanted to be an artist.
A former elite athlete, she was destined for the Olympic Games in two separate sports — first as a downhill ski racer and then as a track cyclist — but her sporting career was shattered after suffering catastrophic injury and undergoing controversial “experimental” body-modification surgery intended to ease her pain and help her performance.
Left physically and psychologically traumatised, Sophie Cape then transformed herself into one of Australia’s most celebrated young artists. It’s a profession she has long resisted, as both her mother Ann Cape and her grandmother the late Gwenna Welch are highly regarded artists. But now Sophie Cape has no doubt about becoming the third generation artist in her family: “Art saved me.”
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Sophie Cape Slaughterhouse Road
SOPHIE CAPE | Finalist in the Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize
July 2017
The gallery wishes congratulations to Sophie Cape, finalist in the Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Prize for Awake, O Sleeper.
Image: Awake, O Sleeper, 2017 soil, bulldust, blood, charcoal, acrylic, oil, pastel, graphite, ink on canvas 169 x 213cm
The Ravenswood Australian Women?s Art Prize is an annual prize that was founded to advance art and opportunity for emerging and established female artists in Australia. The winner will be announced at the exhibition opening on 4 August, 2017.
Sophie Cape - Into the Shadows
The Sydney Morning Herald - SpectrumJohn McDonald
10 October 2015
"A mother and daughter turn to paint and canvas to comprehend a family tragedy".
In light of World Mental Health Day, John McDonald reviews Ann and Sophie Cape's current exhibition 'An Unending Shadow: Works Exploring Dementia' at Mosman Art Gallery.
_Click here to download PDFOwen Craven
19/2/15
Sophie Cape is a former professional athlete who retired from competitive sport ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics due to injury. She dabbled in art from a young age – inspired by her artist grandmother (Gwenna Thatcher) and mother (Ann Cape) – but it was when her sporting career came to an abrupt end that her art making became the perfect outlet for her restless, athletic energy and her love of being outdoors. Cape immerses herself physically and emotionally into the landscape. It’s here that she has discovered and developed her unique visual language, making large-scale, visceral artworks composed predominately outside, on the ground in seclusion.
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Harry Roberts
Feb 6 2015
Life works. Blood, sweat and tears are embodied in the creations of every one of these visionary artists.
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Rick Feneley
31 May 2014
Downhill skier, sprint cyclist, near-death veteran, serial hospitalcase. Rick Feneley follows Sophie cape's blood-curdling ride from extreme athlete to extreme artist.
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Sophie Cape in conversation with Richard Morecroft, July 2014
Sophie Cape in conversation with broadcaster Richard Morecroft discussing the exhibition 'Shadows of White - From Shaolin to Everest'.
_view online (external link)Noelle Faulkner
June 2013
Meet the talents currently reshaping Australian culture, from stage to gallery to turntable. Remember these names, says Noelle Faulkner.
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Darryn King
April 2013
The moment of creative inspiration is often characterised as a flash, a spark, a spontaneous flicking of a light switch or - somewhat dangerously - a lightning strike. Yesterday visited Paul McCartney in a dream. William Blake and Giacomo Puccini described themselves as careful transcribers of heavenly dictation.
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Kate Crawford
May 31st 2012
Artist Sophie Cape recalls avalanche terror
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Elizabeth Fortescue
17/5/12
On February 17 this year, Sophie Cape was painting alone on an Austrian mountain side, when a terrifying roar of wind heralded an avalanche. The Sydney artist was buried, along with 4 large canvases laid out on the snow.
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Kate Crawford
18/11/2011
THE dark and moody portrait of anti-whaling campaigner Captain Paul Watson was painted “with blood, bone and fat”, according to the artist.
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Louise Schwartzkoff
Monday, October 10, 2011
By the time Felicity Smith and Paul Lowe decided to get married, they owned a house in Darlinghurst and had enough kitchenware and manchester to last them decades. Rather than risk an avalanche of salad bowls and steak knives on their wedding day next month, the couple have asked guests to contribute towards at $12,000 abstract painting.
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