To artist page - biography

The geometric and sometimes highly ordered works in Particular Particles are indications of a process, formed through the careful accumulation of the discarded detritus of everyday life. Some of this debris is so small it would be difficult to notice it in the first place let alone forget about it once it is gone. The idea of one man’s trash being another man’s treasure is taken to another plane in Charlie Sofo’s work. Ephemeral substances from the human body such as saliva, hair and grease are used as well as clothes lint and dust from the studio floor.

The works in Particular Particles are very quiet, but full of order and time. Some of the pictures are almost invisible. I've focused in on particular things, marginal materials and minor processes.  In the work Eyes I repeatedly cast the eye of a needle in paint. I turned out hundreds of these tiny forms and pasted them on a sheet of cardboard creating a field of sorts, a concentration of eyes.  In the work Clothes Lint I picked, rolled and pasted individual balls of lint from 16 items of clothing. The result is a patchwork of lint - an ordered collection of superfluous materials. I've tried to make something out of almost nothing. Each piece is based upon a simple idea that has been expanded or carried through to its logical end.

- Charlie Sofo, June 2008

Particular Particles is Charlie Sofo’s first exhibition with Darren Knight Gallery. Sofo, originally from Canberra and now based in Melbourne, completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts (first class Honours) at the Australian National University School of Art, Canberra, in 2006.

As well as the solo exhibitions Something like a human Studio 17 ANCA, Canberra (2007), Containers, Canberra Contemporary Art Space (2007) and Snot, The Hive Gallery, Canberra (2006), Sofo’s work has also been included in the group exhibitions BloodLines – Art and the Horse, Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor, NSW (2007) and Peter Fay Presents, Gallery 9, Sydney (2007). He has been the recipient of several awards and grants including the ArtsACT Grant funding for new work (2007), ANU School of Art Book Studio Residency (2006) and Henry Ergas Acquisition Award (2005).