Sophia 2016

Curator: Welcome. Today, we are looking at Carlos Sablón’s striking oil on canvas from 2016, titled "Sophia." What are your first impressions? Editor: Intriguing. The artist blends elements seamlessly. Butterfly wings, a seahorse tail, it’s all quite captivating. There’s a sense of ethereal realism but those details! What’s going on there? Curator: Sablón often works within the realms of fantasy art and surrealism. The painting invites viewers to reconsider how we perceive and portray female figures in modern art. It seems like the seahorse’s tail implies there is a form of movement depicted here, doesn’t it? Editor: It definitely does. And note the artist’s labor, the precise rendering of each scale and the shell like forms protecting her body, and those iridescent wings – almost insect like but so delicate. You know it takes a lot of care to grind the pigments that finely. Curator: Absolutely. His mastery lies in creating hyperrealistic scenes with otherworldly figures. This piece particularly references classical mermaid imagery while questioning it through this blending of elements from the natural world. It plays into fantasy narratives so prevalent in visual culture. Editor: The seahorse tail as a marker of fantastical nature, yes, but more than that it suggests an alternative use of resources to depict femininity and transformation, I see an echo of labour and even industrial processing in the details of those armored plates which protect Sophia's midsection, that make her seem both vulnerable, with crossed arms, and powerful. Curator: I agree; the shell and scales appear constructed, protective. We can discuss the social contexts of self-image and defense here and, looking at his artistic journey, it appears Sablón has been developing this visual vocabulary over years. He creates this persona through these carefully made material choices, thus, offering an avenue to explore self-presentation within a wider cultural landscape. Editor: Precisely, he merges fantasy, and realism through material illusion to propose fresh takes on familiar figures and stories. Ultimately the question is not why do this figure have those appendages? But, who has made them, how and where? Curator: A perspective which certainly prompts deeper contemplation on the image. Thank you. Editor: My pleasure.