The Artists

Tina Sotis

Portent	The Illusionist	Invitation
Mangroves	Townsend's Solitaire	Back to the Garden
Five Boats	The Library	The Pastor's House
The Little Prince	Light, Changing Everything	The Compassionate Heart
A Disturbance	The Educated Man	The Ice Storm
Shaharazade	Escape Velocity	The Significance of the Red Hat
The Changling Year	The Deep End

TINA SOTIS

SOLO OR TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS:

September 2008     Fenn Gallery, Woodbury, CT
October 2007     Two-person exhibition. Sandisfield Arts Center, Sandisfield, MA
August 2007     "New Work" Lauren Clark Fine Art, Housatonic, MA
August 2006    "Lifting the Veil", Two-person Exhibition - Fenn Gallery, Woodbury, CT
February 2005    Two-person Exhibition - Chemers Gallery, Tustin, CA
July 2004    "Secrets Cast Long Shadows", Tokonoma Gallery, Housatonic, MA
September 2003   "Recent Paintings", Sandisfield Arts Center, Sandisfield, MA
October 2001    "New Paintings", Salisbury Town Hall, Salisbury, CT
July 2001          "The Solitary Muse", Tokonoma Gallery, Housatonic, MA
November 2000 "The Waiting Room", Brewhouse Gallery, Grantham, Lincolnshire, UK
October 1998    Two-person Exhibition, White Creek Gallery, Salem, NY
January 1996   "Solitude and Introspection", Karen Casey Gallery, Phoenix, AZ

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

October 2007     "Landscapes for Land's Sake", to benefit the Agricultural Stewardship Association (ASA), Maple Ridge, Route 372, Coila, NY
August 2007     Gallery 668, Greenwich, NY
October 2006     Sandisfield Arts Center, Sandisfield, MA
November 2005    Shaw Gallery, Naples, FL
December 2004    "Almost Real", Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
September 2004    "Painted Cities", Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
December 2000    "Painted Cities", Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY
December 1999    2nd Annual Small Works Show, Juried Exhibit,
Nuovo Gallery, Lenox, MA
November 1999    Anthony Nordoff Gallery, Great Barrington, MA
August 1999    Topolino Gallery, Housatonic, MA
June 1997    Anthony Nordoff Gallery, Gt.Barrington, MA
February 1997    Anthony Nordoff Gallery, Gt.Barrington, MA
July 1996    "La Phoeniquera" Juried Exhibition (Juror: David Rubin, Curator, Phoenix Art Museum's
20th Century Art) MARS Artspace, Phoenix, AZ
April 1996    Art One Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
February 1996    Karen Casey Gallery
September 1995    Karen Casey Gallery

BIOGRAPHY:

I was born and raised in the Hudson River Valley, and although always interested in drawing, my first serious creative interest was black and white photography. In the fall of 1987, I discovered a love of oil painting at Columbia-Greene Community College, in Hudson, NY. After two semesters, my husband was given a job opportunity out west and I moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1988. I pursued my fine arts education only sporadically until I obtained a studio in Central Phoenix, where I began showing and selling my work in 1995. Since 1998 I've lived in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, and am currently represented by Lauren Clark Fine Art in Housatonic, MA, Fenn Gallery in Woodbury, CT and Chemers Gallery in Tustin, CA.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

My first serious creative interest was black and white photography, which taught me two things: A strong sense of composition and the ability to distill my curiosity about human nature into definitive moments. I have always questioned superficial truths and am drawn to situations that depict a quiet revelation of deeper meanings. This vision is recreated in my painting with the use of minimalist architectural devices that portray a fleeting sense that some unseen drama is either about to occur or has just happened. I use strong, hidden light sources, spatial devices, and metaphors for the human presence to create an atmosphere of solitude and introspection into which the viewer can enter without interruption.

Although I have some formal education in painting techniques (i.e. the use of the materials, color and spatial relationships), my conceptual approach comes from within. For a short time after my training, I worked directly from my photographs, often painting in every detail. Now, most times I'll invent an image with only an internal concept to guide me, perhaps using only the interesting parts of a photograph for reference purposes only.

The titles of the paintings have always drawn attention and curiosity, and play an important role in the creation of each piece. They evolve from little epiphanies that occur to me as each painting develops, embodying small, but important truths. Painting and title become one, yet enhancing the existence of the other. I like to think that it's the contemplation on the connection between the two that heightens the experience of the viewer.

Some of my strongest influences were films such as "To Kill A Mockingbird" and Hitchcock's "Rear Window", which I had seen when I was quite young. In particular, I was attracted to the directors' use of black and white footage, atmospheric light and the architectural focus of the set designs. I was enthralled - and still am - by the mystery and voyeurism portrayed in these works, and they influence the way I use light, space and the sense of something unseen in my own painting.
With respect to painters whose work I admire, I am more and more drawn to the surrealists, like the Spanish artist Remedios Varo and Rene Magritte. Edward Gorey is one of my favorite artists: his dark, humorous pen-and-ink scenarios are fascinating. Finally, I owe much gratitude to the great photographers of the 20th century: W. Eugene Smith, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Alfred Steiglitz.