There are two types of reactions to seeing the grotesque: turning away or moving in closer. I am the second type, which is why I’ve spent so much time staring at Nicole Sofia’s illustrations. Bold and delicate shading coexist skillfully in this Argentinian artist’s warped dreamscapes. Versatile lines create a sense of gesture and motion overflowing with a raw sensuality that unsettles you with its fleshy, malformed anatomy. Manifestations of bodily insecurities, perhaps. If you follow Sofia’s linework closely you can appreciate what unusual paths the pencil took to create her own version of human(ish) forms in darkly oneiric settings.
