Sonia Bombart

Artist Statement

Compositional dynamism, vibrant colours, and ambiguous atmospheres come together in a quietly energetic convergence of instinct, intention, and spirituality, my touchstones in creating abstract paintings. Working across a range of media and processes informed by an interest in science and material research, I craft what I refer to as ‘dreamscapes’ – pictorial spheres evoking a dance between lived experience and the deeper worlds of emotions, dreams, and the unconscious.

The materials and approaches I employ in the studio are various and always evolving. My tools include a range of brushes of many sizes and types, as well as airbrushes, palette knives, my hands and fingers, and anything else I might use to create suggestive treatments and unique marks on my working surfaces. I indulge in a range of palettes and bright colors while choosing among various media, including oils, acrylics, oil sticks, inks, markers, crayons, and pencils. Canvas and linen are my primary surfaces, but I’ve recently started using a wider range of textiles, including linen, denim and other fabrics. I’m also beginning to incorporate natural pigments and organic elements into my compositions. The more research I do into materials and techniques, and the more I experiment and explore, the more I can expand my vision and allow my processes and compositions to evolve.

Spirituality and ritual are fundamental for me in ways that are both practical and metaphorical. Essential to this are meditation, music, and the establishment of a serene, contemplative working environment that will inspire the senses. I work freely, intuitively, and gesturally at first, focusing on surface treatments and fields of color before slowing down to make more considered, specific marks and details. I then create nuanced textures and other effects to enrich the overall range and depth of transparency, ambiguity, vibrancy, and vitality in my compositional forms. I think of this as similar to the different stages of awareness and cognition in waking life and sleep — meditation, transcendence, drifting, and dreaming. Through my work, I strive to bring art and the essence of existence into tangible confluence, inviting viewers to join me in acts of sensory and aesthetic exploration. I seek to alchemize the challenges of lived reality into visions of beauty. My artwork is an expression and abstraction of life as we live it, an intimation of the depths of our minds and souls, and an emanation of realms of existence far beyond ours.