about

A woman with dark, shoulder-length hair and a tattoo on her upper arm stands in front of a large, nude figure painting of a woman. The painting features bold brushstrokes and a color palette of oranges, pinks, and blues.

Sofía Zuluaga (Bogotá, 1989) is a classically trained oil painter who portrays bound, nude bodies—frequently her own—in a loose, expressive style. The tight binds cutting into distorted flesh painted in bright, saturated colors, create complex juxtapositions and a sharp feeling of unease. She uses these depictions of physical restraint as a metaphor for invisible systems of oppression, thus examining psychological, physical, and cultural conditionings and prompting deeper conversations about control, surrender, and the will to break free.

Zuluaga began her studies at Pratt Institute, but in 2011 moved to Italy to study classical drawing and painting at the Florence Academy of Art, graduating in 2015.

She participated in the first exhibition by a Spanish museum dedicated to giving visibility to the LGBT+ community (Una mirada LGTBI+ a la Colección del MEAM, Museu Europeu D’art Modern), the first exhibition dedicated to contemporary women painters in Spain (Mujeres Artistas Hoy ’17, MEAM Museum), and an exhibition featuring the top international female figurative artists (Women Painting, All Over the World ‘19, MEAM Museum).

She has exhibited internationally in museums and galleries including the Museo Pablo Serrano (Zaragoza, Spain), Museu Europeu D’art Modern (Barcelona, Spain), Museo de la Caja Real (San Luis Potosí, Mexico), Museo Primer Deposito (Guanajuato, Mexico) and Museum of Now (Berlin, Germany). Most recently, she was featured as a guest artist in BBC2’s Florence Episode of Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour.

She currently lives and works in Vienna.