Video: Studio/Gallery Current Works, 2019-2020
Transcendant – The Art of Angelica Sotiriou – San Pedro Art Walk
(Originally posted at http://diversionsla.com/transcendant-the-art-of-angelica-sotiriou-san-pedro-art-walk/)
Angelica Sotiriou – San Pedro Art Walk
The San Pedro art walk continues to be a wonderful opportunity to find exciting art. A highlight of this month’s walk was discovering the work of artist Angelica Sotiriou. Her paintings have a mystical, magical quality that draws the viewer into her unique vision.
“It’s my voice. I’ve known since I was a child, the only way I can survive is my art. It’s my world,” Sotiriou says. Working with acrylics, she considers herself a contemplative, narrative painter. “My work – I get lost in it. It’s like little portals have opened.” Viewed, this makes perfect sense. Spend any time looking at the paintings and there is the sensation of being pulled into the paintings.
“All my pieces have to do with looking for light,” Sotiriou relates. Viewing her paintings with their mix of deep blues, rich gold, and shimmering white, she has found it. There is a dimensional quality to her work that reaches beneath the surface of the canvas, and exudes spirituality. The golds and blues have the resonance of 12th Century icons that have time traveled to the present. When first viewed, we were unaware that the artist was raised in a Greek Orthodox family, or that she had incorporated her religious faith into her paintings. And yet, knowing none of this, to the viewer, her work radiantly expresses pure faith, wonder, and belief. Possibly the best way to describe these pieces is transcendent.
Sotiriou’s studio – photo by Jack Burke
In Sotiriou’s studio, the artist’s work, past, present, and in process, all stunningly present images of light and life. “For the first 20 years I created large narrative bas-relief figurative sculptures. Currently I’m working on a crepuscular series, inspired by the beauty of light coming through clouds.” On her website, the artist says “My recent drawings and paintings have been a personal journey of uncovering and revealing pathways, windows and portals of light and of spirit.” The paintings seem to glow, as if light came from inside the canvas, or the canvas itself was a window.
While many of the artist’s works are large scale, averaging 8′ by 4′, some are more diminutive in size.
Contemplative Narrative Paintings – Angelica Sotriou – Photos by Jack Burke
The artist has this quote posted around her gallery and studio:
“I don’t know how
But suddenly there is no darkness left at all
The sun has poured itself inside me
From a thousand wounds.” – Nikoforos Vretakos
Sotiriou has taught art throughout California, and holds masters degrees from UCLA. From sculptural pieces to acrylic paintings, the artist has been exhibiting in San Pedro since 2001. See her astonishing work at Loft 2, Second Floor gallery at 401 Mesa Street in San Pedro.
Artist Angelica Sotiriou right, author left – Photo by Jack Burke
Art As Prayer: An Exhibition of Paintings by Angelica Sotiriou
Please use the up-down arrow buttons to scroll through each PDF, or download each here and here.
Art Catalogue cover 2019Art Catalogue 2019 new
“Our Help and Comfort” Feature
My artwork has been featured in the first two pages of To Vema, the bulletin of St Katherine Greek Orthodox Church:
OurHelpAndComfort2018_07-08Interview on Voyage LA
From http://voyagela.com/interview/check-angelica-sotirious-artwork/
Angelica Sotiriou
Today we’d like to introduce you to Angelica Sotiriou.
Angelica, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I have been an artist for 45 years. I have known no other career. I have an MA and MFA from UCLA. I studied with incredible mentors. Graduate school in the late 1970’s was I believe to be one of the richest times of the West Coast’s art movement. I studied under the tutelage of Laddie John Dill, Lee Mullican, Jan Stussy and Tom Wudl while studying at UCLA. I have a studio and gallery at The Loft, LOFT2 2nd.
Floor Gallery and Studios in the arts district of San Pedro. My work has been shown nationally and internationally in museums, in galleries, in pop-up galleries and places of worship. I have been a teaching artist for 4o years. I have taught in many institutions in greater Los Angeles County. I have been an associate professor at USC, Loyola Marymount, UCLA, College of the Canyons and Los Angeles Unified Schools teacher training and arts specialist. I spent the majority of my art teaching career teaching at LACMA and MOCA.
My works are large abstract contemplative narratives. The works have been inspired by the early Byzantine Iconography method of working from dark values into light values. Each work is inspired by my meditations.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
The average size of each work is 9′ x 4′. The surfaces are dense with color, texture, acrylic transparencies and reflective powders. Each work is a product of my personal meditations and contemplations. The works are very large and invite the viewer to participate as if they are walking through a door or peering into a vast window. Intentionally, I create works that make the viewer feel small and to experience the sense of being inside the works. The paintings become the atmosphere the viewer is standing in. The works intentionally are created in silence and I hope to evoke the same spirit of contemplative silence for my audience.
The works deal with reflective light by using interference powders… light reflects the color different from the perspective of the viewers and where they are standing. The work becomes interactive as the viewer and daylight change. Light reveals itself through the reflection of light/color at 180-degree turns. The works change with each degree of viewing that shifts, depending on the light of day, position of the viewer. The colors and the 10 layers of acrylic and nacreous are revealed in a way that the viewer ponders the revelation of images and colors as mystical.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
Yes… the role of the artist has changed in the last 5 decades that I have been working. It would be a long thesis for me to walk you through what I have seen and experienced…. from conceptual, to realism… I have seen many genres, styles, focus, a shift in art representation, the role of museums and galleries come and go… I have seen artists use their art to make political statements, make art for themselves and self-indulgence.
I have seen technology shift art making… but, I am left with a sense that art has lost some of the much-needed skill bases learned through studying art making and art history… there is is a sense that anyone can become an artist… and there are many young artists that lack a foundation in the arts and gain short-lived notoriety… but, again this may be indicative of the time we live in.
My own journey has always been a bit of maverick and I have not chosen to be a part of the popular movements in the arts. My works early on were inspired by Mark Rothko and the late color fields of Monet’s room-sized works. I have never stopped working in my studio. I work whether or not I receive recognition for my life’s work. I honor my muse. I know no other language.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My work is on view at my studio and gallery in San Pedro. LOFT2, 2nd. Floor Gallery and Studios, 401 South Mesa, San Pedro by appointment or on First Thursday for the San Pedro Arts District ArtWalk. Individuals may also view my work on my website.
Los Angeles Religious Education Congress: Art Exhibit announced 2018
[From here:]
This year our Art Exhibit features artist Angelica Sotiriou Rausch (pictured here with her work, “Road to Emmaus”), whose paintings derive much of their imagery from biblical narratives, Scripture and her prayer life. Her recent works of the past two decades have been a personal journey of uncovering and revealing pathways, windows and portals of light and the Holy Spirit. Inspired by the prayerful, contemplative Byzantine process of iconography, her paintings have adopted the multilayered application of paint working from the darkest value and finishing with the lightest value. Her working process is a tenacious pilgrimage/ministry on a quest to reveal God’s Light to the world. In addition, her ministry includes a dedication to teaching visual arts for the last 45 years to communities that often do not have the privilege to have art programs. She maintains her studio/gallery in San Pedro and offers showings to late career artists and to those who have not had the opportunity to share their works in a gallery venue.
Please click here for more information.
Art and the Message of the Gospel – Fuller Seminary’s Laura Robinson Harbert with Holy Trinity Church (VIDEO)
Write-Up: Brehm Center Institute
Then Their Eyes Were Opened: Paintings by Angelica Sotiriou
All-Seminary Chapel Art Installation
When: JANUARY 5TH – MARCH 22ND
Where: PAYTON 101
Sponsors: BREHM CENTER
Price: FREE
Additional Info: ART IS ON VIEW DURING ALL-SEMINARY CHAPEL, WEDNESDAYS 10:00AM
“I don’t know how
But suddenly there is no darkness left at all
The sun has poured itself inside me
From a thousand wounds.”
-Nikoforos Vretakos
For the last decade, Angelica Sotiriou has seen the creation of her large-scale painting compositions as a contemplative practice thus borrows the prayerful stance of icon painters. This is one of the many influences engendered by her faith and upbringing as an Orthodox Christian. Indeed, the canvases featured in Payton 101 portray pathways, windows, and portals of light that signify the artist’s personal journey with God.
These images further extend an invitation for the viewer to enter into a spiritual landscape where dark shadows give way to elements of light. Through Sotiriou’s luminous work, inner life meets an exterior world alluding to such liturgical rituals as baptism, the lighting of candles, processions, and the breaking of bread. The artist describes her artistic transactions as wordless cries that mediate her way back home, but the work loudly reveals a dynamic presence that makes place particular such as the depicted burning bush in the painting I AM or the horizon line in Touch by the Sun.
Artist’s Biography
Artist’s BiographyAngelica Sotiriou holds a Masters of Arts and a Masters of Fine Arts degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. Angelica studied under the tutelage of artists Lee Mullican, Laddie John Dill, Tom Wudl and British artist/printmaker Ian Colverson.
Angelica Sotiriou has been exhibiting her art and teaching art in Los Angeles and the greater communities of California for over three decades. She has worked as a sculptor, creating narrative figurative base-reliefs and currently creates large contemplative narrative acrylic paintings. Her works are in private and public collections of various individuals and organizations including Orange County Art Museum, The Terranea Resort (Palos Verdes), The Francisco Martinez Dance Theater (Los Angeles) and Jerry Bruckheimer (Los Angeles). Angelica has been an active and exhibiting artist in the San Pedro community since 2001, showing at Studio 343, Angels Gate Cultural Center, White Box Gallery, VTB Studio and 2nd. Floor Gallery.
[Originally published here.]
Mary’s Yes: an Artistic Advent Reflection
For Advent 2015, we chose a painting by Angelica Sotiriou called “Mary’s Yes” a piece that would serve for meditation and a backdrop to our Advent reflections.
Advent is the time of year when we remember the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. During this time, we begin to reflect on the story of Christmas and the mystery of the incarnation.
In that story, the angel Gabriel says to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.”
And Mary responds with a “yes.”
She doesn’t have to. She could say, “No. Mary’s YesNot me. Not now” or even “Why me? What about my future? My dreams?
But instead she says, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
Then the angel leaves her.
And in this moment, our salvation is made certain. Once the immortal and immaterial God unites Himself to human flesh in the womb of Mary, our salvation is made certain.
And words fail to convey the story, the beauty, the mystery.
“Mary’s Yes” helps to capture the explosive nature of the moment. The infinite colliding with the finite, the holy with the unholy, matter infused with spirit.
We invite you to reflect and meditate on the story through this wonder-inducing painting. May it inspire you as it has us.
[The preceding was originally published online here by Gold Line Church.]