Sophie Gralton’s paintings are like portholes propelling audiences into the ordinary and ephemeral joys of our infancy, a time long since passed. Depicting her subjects with textured anonymity, Gralton’s work eschews any notion of traditional child portraiture. “I crop the eyes or paint from behind so they become an image of the every child,” says Gralton, “like nostalgia or memories, but not in an overly saccharine way”. Excluding these identifiable features from the frame of the canvas allows Gralton’s practice to connect with viewers in a unique way, forging familiarity instead through figurative objects and vintage garments.
Fostering a deeper sense of nostalgia, Gralton adorns her backdrops with childhood relics, from vibrant spectrums of stencilled letters and numbers to pasted pages from classic storybooks. The artist’s infatuation with preserving juvenile pasts is perhaps a reference to the treasured time she spent at preschool, a sentimental space which birthed her initial love for painting.
Having studied and worked in textile design earlier on in her career, Gralton went on to gain a Fine Arts degree majoring in painting and printing from Sydney’s National Art School, and shortly thereafter attended the Charlie Sheard Studio School for a brief stint of study.
Gralton’s ability to capture the fleetingness of elapsed youth and coalesce it with such vitality onto canvas has seen her work gain growing traction over the past few years. Now represented by Anthea Polson Art in the Gold Coast, Gralton has been busy creating for an upcoming solo exhibition that is set to open at the gallery in March, 2022. With her studio space located in Brookvale, the up-and-coming artists precinct of Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Gralton finds constant inspiration in the swarm of creative makers who surround her.
Featured image: Artist Sophie Gralton. Photo: Theresa Sarjeant. Courtesy: the artist and Anthea Polson Art, the Gold Coast.