Sofia Defino Leiby, “Bottles Study”, 2025, Photo transfer, watercolor, gouache on canvas, 20 x 15 cm, Unique, 1.500 €
The starting point of Sofia Defino Leiby’s artistic practice is a personal archive of photographs, advertisements, fabrics, newspapers, screen prints, and earlier works. This ever-expanding cosmos continually finds its way into her paintings, collages, and digital compositions. For some time, Leiby has been creating virtual environments in 3D programs such as Unity or Blender, where she combines her own models with pre-existing elements. In the work “Bottles Study,” a photograph of bottles in her studio which were later used to create her 3D rendered still lifes has been painted over.
Recent solo or two-person shows of Sofia Defino Leiby (*1989, USA) include Kunstverein Nürnberg – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft; Sweetwater, Berlin; Mala, Lisbon; HYLE, Athens; and PAGE (NYC), New York. Her work has been included in group shows at Sangheeut and Shower, Seoul, and KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin. She studied at Städelschule and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2023, she published her book “May Text.”