A Solo Exhibition by Sophie Vallance Cantor
Time is passing slowly, each second elongated as a cigarette burns down.
‘Tiger Stripes and Smoke’ is the latest body of work from Sophie Vallance Cantor. In this collection of paintings, Vallance has pushed - and been pushed - further, both mentally and creatively. Living under new layers of shadow and indeed casting some themselves, the inhabitants of her world navigate their new reality as best they can.
We are presented with a collection of snapshots from a period of time which read like stills from a film. A motorbike ride through the tunnel at night, three friends silently smoking in a bar, someone awake in the middle of the night again. The narrative between paintings isn’t linear, and we are left to join the dots where we can. A sense of silence stretches out between the paintings, almost quiet enough to hear the gentle sizzle of a cigarette from the darkness.
Swathes of smoke wind their way slowly through the air, mimicking the painterly stripes which adorn the tigers from Vallance’s paintings. Colours are transformed by the presence of shadow, alien greens wash over the motorbike riders in the tunnel and cool blues are cast by a cap on a sunny day.
Once again, domestic cats have transformed into wild beasts, the embodiment of emotions too big to keep in check. Two tigers fight across the canvas, their conflict so harsh that they draw blood, the struggle of two sides both desperate to come out on top. Another tiger snarls into the darkness, fighting with a shadow which is steadily advancing up his back, determined with all his might to not let it take over. Depression, grief, panic attacks, fear of death, - the cat's outward confrontations act as vital expressions of these unreleased feelings, which hang in the silence of the other paintings.
Strength and love fill the gaps between the darkness. They take the form of bold self-acceptance on a branded cap, a glinting gold necklace in remembrance of Beefy Bobs or the sheer ferocity of the fighting cats. Ultimately, these paintings are a negotiation of living with the shadows, allowing them to come and go, and marking the passing of time with the burning down of a cigarette.
