Interview

Sep 18

Sonia Alins

Sonia Alins is an international award-winning artist and illustrator born in Lleida, Catalonia (Spain). With more than 25 years of experience, Sonia’s work primarily combines drawing with other materials, textures, glazes, and transparencies to configure three-dimensional pieces. Publishers and companies worldwide have commissioned her work, and galleries and fairs have featured it in both solo and collective shows. The reflections on womanhood and motherhood underlaying in her Water Women series have received international recognition in renowned global illustration competitions, including a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators of NY, five Awards of Excellence at Communication Arts, two gold medals from the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and a gold award in the Global Illustration Award from the Frankfurt Book Fair.

What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?

“For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a painter or illustrator. In fact, I entirely spent my childhood drawing. I now recognize that being an artist has always been my passion, a fundamental part of who I am. So, I studied Fine Arts at the University of Salamanca (Spain). After graduating, I had the opportunity to pursue a professional career in illustration—a period I remember as intense and a continuous learning. However, around 2010, I felt the need to develop a more personal and artistic practice. I became truly aware of who I was and what I wanted to be in the future. From that moment on, a true renewal in my processes, techniques and themes burst in a very successful way. Before long, I began receiving exhibition proposals from art galleries and winning awards in international competitions.”

What does your work aim to say? Does it comment on any current social or political issues?

“My work usually visualises my thoughts on the reality around me, combined with references to my inner world—often a personal quest for spirituality. My pieces also symbolically reflect emotions or reactions to social issues, mainly those concerning women's status in society, depicting the desire for a more gender-equal society.”

Do you plan your work in advance, or is it improvisation?

“Although I also work in advance, programming and designing a specific piece, my work's full potential comes from pure improvisation. I am so used to drawing without previous sketches that I usually grab my pen, marker, or something similar and start drawing. I always have a clear image in my mind of what to represent and how, so it is easy for me to translate it straight to the canvas.”

Are there any art world trends are you following?

“Postmodernism has brought us a huge confluence of both new and reinterpretations of classic styles, techniques, and trends. In that sense, social networks have also networked the whole art world. So, the references I consider are multiple and varied. Still, to sum up, I'm drawn to works that display authentic craftsmanship and experimentation, and to artists focused on conveying genuine emotionality. I’m also interested in works based on figuration that celebrate unique depictions instead of digital perfection.”

What process, materials and techniques do you use to create your artwork?

“In my work, I try to achieve a unique expression through experimentation with materials. I enjoy combining ink, watercolours and acrylics on paper with less ordinary resources such as fabric, threads, feathers, wood and plastic pieces. Thanks to this heterogeneous combination of textures, I can create ‘organic’ collages with a distinctive personality. It’s a beautiful and exciting manual process that I’m enjoying a lot and from which I’m still learning very much.”

What does your art mean to you?

“I see art as an inherent need to express my soul. It is like looking at myself in a mirror: when I see my work, I see myself. My art has always been the visual expression of my thoughts and feelings—the most wonderful things I can share with the world. I feel that through my art, I connect with the Universe.”

Las chicas de las rocas_©sonia_alins.jpg

What’s your favourite artwork and why?

“Although a wide range of artworks has highly influenced my work throughout my life, I have always felt especially fascinated and inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights. Every time I have had the opportunity to see the piece at the Prado Museum, it has been a truly fulfilling experience. It is an impressive work that catches my attention again and again through its subject, symbolism, and narrative.”

Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?

“Af Klint exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The show unfolds a spiritual, mystical experience of a non-tangible world through a poetic visual language that I find fascinating. I would also recommend an exhibition on the pop art artist Marisol Escobar at the Botín Centre in Santander. Marisol's work transcends Pop Art, delving into a deeper critique of capitalism and consumerism through a unique aesthetic and formal technique.”