Sophie Pulvers

Sophie was born in Tokyo, Japan and grew up in both Tokyo and Kyoto with her two sisters, also artists, and her older brother. She was educated in Japanese schools until she moved to Sydney in 2001 and is bilingual and bicultural in Japanese and English. Sophie continues to be a frequent visitor to Japan.

Sophie has always been fascinated by the natural world and this is reflected in her work, in which she most often paints animal subjects. Sophie’s work reflects the experiences of her childhood growing up surrounded by both traditional and contemporary Japanese art. Much of Japanese cultural and artistic inspiration is drawn from the natural world and natural materials. Sophie has travelled overseas as well as in many parts of Australia and has had the opportunity to experience wild nature in tropical far-north Queensland, the Corner Country of far-western NSW and has visited Ningaloo Reef in WA.

Sophie exhibits regularly, often with her sisters and has been a semi-finalist in the national Doug Moran Portraiture Prize and a finalist in the Mosman Art Prize, Hunters Hill Art Prize and the Waverly 9x5 Landscape Prize.

As well as painting animal subjects from life, Sophie has re-interpreted the animal subject etchings and paintings of the 15th/16th -century German artist Albrecht Durer. Sophie has also created a series of large works inspired by renowned Japanese artists such as Ito Jakuchu, Maruyama Okyo and artists of the Kano School.