CHANEL SOHIER
This artist’s work is poignant, beautiful and deeply emotive
Chanel was always drawn to art. After studying at TAFE while at school, she went on to complete a Fine Arts degree. Chanel describes her university experience as deeply psycho-spiritual. “It transformed my thinking in a way that was unimaginable to me,” she reflects.
It wasn’t until 2021 when, driven by the aloneness thrust upon us with pandemic lockdowns, Chanel felt compelled to really pursue her art. “I was isolated for quite a large portion of that year and artmaking became a way for me to communicate this sense of loneliness,” she observes.
In her early work, there is sense of feeling cast adrift, yet seemingly anchored in time and space. The more the viewer’s gaze lingers, the more intricate emotional layers are revealed.
For Chanel, art is a way to explore our deepest truths. “I think you can learn a lot about yourself,” she muses. “I love making art because it is like an out-of-body experience; you forget yourself for hours and this is a difficult thing to do in today’s world.”
Chanel works primarily with oil paint, but she loves ink drawings. “The gesture for me is everything,” she notes. “I have always been interested in drawing and the power of markmaking.” Self-described as earnest, an aesthete and a thinker, she says her most significant artistic influences are the daring individuality of post-Impressionism — “the metaphysical painters whose work is richly academic yet so deeply felt, and Sidney Nolan who was a visual explorer and an obsessive and restless maker of pictures”, she says.
This inspiring creative is humbled when others see value in her art and is quick to acknowledge the encouragement of those individuals who have guided her. “This support has been fundamental to my motivation and ability to have a voice as an artist,” she says.
Chanel is inspired by primordial nature, drawing the human experience and nature as closely together as she can. “The natural world is all-encompassing and fundamental to our life,” she muses.
When it comes to textures and colours, Chanel is drawn to neutral palettes and organic textures including stone, marble and ceramic. “My favourite furniture pieces push the boundaries between utilitarian and art objects,” she says. “Frank Gehry’s cardboard Wiggle chair and stool are innovative, beautiful and utilitarian.”
Chanel sees art and life as exquisitely intertwined. “Through art we are able to give form to our metaphysical selves, the spiritual, emotional, psychological dimensions of what it means to be human,” she says. greenhouseinteriors.com.au