The images she (Sophie Rivera) made were of everyday New Yorkers of all ages. They were time-stamped by their hair styles and clothing as citizens of the 1970s and ’80s, but they were made eternal by their direct gazes, formal poses and the nimbus of light with which Ms. Rivera surrounded them. - Penelope Green, New York Times
Sophie Rivera, Title, date, Silver print, size, price
“As an artist, Latino, and feminist, I trace my photographic development from my earliest fascination with photographic images through various transformations to its culmination in a complex amalgam of vision and culture. Various aspects of photojournalism, portraiture, street photography, news, still lifes, and abstract urban studies have been central to my development as an artist. Individually, or in various complex combinations these modalities have been suffused with my creative energy. I have attempted to integrate my cultural heritage into an artistic continuum.” - Sophie Rivera
Sophie Rivera, Self portrait, date, Silver print, Size
(These will be color corrected to match the print and not look sepia toned.)
Sophie Rivera, title, date, Silver print, size, price
With these images of Puerto Rican sitters from her neighborhood on the west end of Harlem, the artist recalls the early years of Multiculturalism and its effects on the art world. Her prominent figures, each presented with quiet dignity, have a tangible presence in the gallery. While her initial approach to this project had anthropological overtones, Ms. Rivera’s images reveal an artist’s personal vision of portraiture. Her decision to print large, square-format photographs recalls the style of Larry Fink, but her concentration on their figures is more directly focused into the sitter’s gaze and, only by subtle implication, their psychological state. Inviting her sitters into her home, the artist established a rapport that evokes a sense of serenity in each image. Portraiture, though it seems effortless with the aid of a camera lens, is never only about either the sitter or the photographer. Instead, a middle ground evolves, in which the sitter’s being and personality and the photographer’s eye and mind are all implicated in the creative process. -Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, Intercambio Nueva Luz Vol 11.2