about

Sophie Järvinen Postma Sophie Järvinen Postma uses drawing and pastel as instruments of perception. Her work balances abstraction and recognition, where line, color, and material actively reconfigure perception rather than illustrate it. In her drawings, forms appear to move without kinetics, carry weight without mass, and contain tension without narrative.

Educated at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (Architectural Design) and with a background in art history, Postma explores how intuitive choices and materials combine to evoke a direct, sensory experience. In series such as Portraits of Being (2015) and Life in Pastels (2018), she shifts this approach to sculptural forms, where clay, ink, and pastel reveal the essence of the object.

Her work invites the viewer to an active gaze: meaning arises in the moment of seeing and feeling, not through explanation. In contrast to both classical figurative and reductive minimalist work, she develops her own visual language that is introspective yet remains broadly readable. Accidental imperfections and the spontaneous use of material are at the core of her practice, making every drawing an investigation into perception, form, and intensity.

Christine van den Bergh,
Bradwolff & Partners