SOFIIA SICHKAR
a new series of oil paintings coming soon!
About:
Sofiia is currently developing a new series of oil paintings that marks an evolution in her abstract artistic practice. This body of work explores her personal reflections, emotions, and observations of the world, examining what it means to experience life at its most fundamental human level.
Through simplified, universal human forms, she seeks to shift the focus away from race, culture, and ethnicity, directing attention instead toward the shared experiences, emotions, and connections that define humanity. Using abstract shapes, expressive color, and organic natural motifs, her paintings create a visual language that invites introspection and emotional resonance.
"Discovery of a Spark" serves as the opening work of the series, introducing its central themes. The painting reflects on how curiosity, our innate desire to explore, wonder, and discovery is often overlooked in everyday life. A small pink dot becomes the catalyst for the figures' fascination, symbolizing the spark that transforms an ordinary moment into one of meaningful discovery. The work invites viewers to reflect on a simple question: When was the last time you encountered something that genuinely captured your curiosity and inspired you to stop, observe, and explore?
Throughout this ongoing series, each painting becomes a deeply personal expression of the artist's thoughts and emotions, translating the complexities of everyday life into an abstract visual narrative. Together, the works invite viewers to reconnect with the universal aspects of the human experience through contemplation, emotion, and curiosity.
"Discovery of a spark"
July, 2026
oil on canvas
36" x 48"
" Choose your self-presentations carefully, for what starts out as a mask may become your face." - Erving Goffman
"The Chosen Face" Painting Series (2024-2025)
A collection of oil paintings inspired by Ervin Goffman and his idea that individuals navigate the world through a series of masks and roles.
"Yes, I'm the Artist!"
Spring, 2024
oil on canvas
33" x 40"
"You were right!"
Spring, 2024
oil on canvas
40" x 30"
"In the frame"
Spring, 2024
oil on canvas
24" x 12"
"Surrounded"
Spring, 2024
oil on canvas
36" x 36"
"In the gallery"
Spring, 2024
oil on canvas,
30" x 24"
"Visions"
Spring, 2025
oil on canvas,
30" x 24"
"New, New York"
Fall, 2024
oil on canvas,
24" x 26"
Featured in:
"A women's History Month Special Exhibition"
Curated by WSW, SVA, Spring 2024
"Next Up: Sun Chasers"
Works selected by a jury of notable alumni, the SVA Flatiron Gallery, January 2025
BLIXibition
Artist Exhibition (February) BLIXibition, February – March 2026
About:
“The Chosen Face” showcases a series of paintings of an emerging artist and illustrator, informed by the sociological concept of social performance, particularly the theories of Erving Goffman and his idea that individuals navigate the world through a series of masks and roles. The artist is deeply drawn to this perspective and uses it as a foundation for exploring identity, behavior, and self-representation within her paintings.
Rather than illustrating social performance as it appears in everyday life, Sichkar uses the concept as a framework for imagining and questioning the nature of identity itself.
Through figures that combine human bodies with primate heads, she investigates themes of self-portraiture without creating literal self portraits. These hybrid characters become vessels through which she can explore aspects of her own experiences, observations, and contradictions.
A central theme in an artist's work is the coexistence of opposites. By replacing human faces with primate faces, she creates a visual contradiction that allows both familiarity and estrangement to exist within the same figure. This transformation shifts attention away from individual identity and toward gesture, personality, behavior, and performance. The resulting figures occupy a space between the human and the animal, serving as a reflection on the many roles we perform and the complex, often contradictory nature of the self.
The gallery setting functions as more than a backdrop. Inspired by Goffman's ideas of social performance, Sichkar views the gallery as a stage where identities are constructed, observed, and negotiated. The abstract paintings that surround her figures operate as both cultural objects and psychological spaces, reflecting internal thoughts, emotions, and contradictions. As viewers observe the figures observing artworks, layers of looking and performance emerge, blurring the boundaries between spectator and subject, authenticity and presentation.