ARTIST INTERVIEW: Sophie Glover
Sophie Glover paints and draws, from vases full of flowers to chefs in the kitchen preparing food. She illustrates the pages between the covers of Vogue to the wine labels of TROUPE. Based in South East London, she has a unique way to create both calmness and chaos on paper. Being recognised by some of the leading magazines and fashion brands in the industry, her drawings have been a form of storytelling at it’s own. Sophie told us about her practice, her relationship with cooking and how she found the beauty in peeled vegetables.
Your work has a deep connection to food and dining—what initially sparked your interest in exploring these themes in your art?
Food has different meanings and rhythms in the same way art does and so I think that connection has always been there for me. I started making drawings in artist’s studios about a decade ago, capturing the flurry and activity of the making process. Soon after I turned this lense to kitchens - the stories behind the food feeling incredibly similar to those behind art.
I love drawing chefs preparing potatoes. There is something very nostalgic and hearty about the process, and the potatoes themselves become little sculptures as they're peeled.
People often associate food with culture, community, and memory. How do you see your practice related to that, and what does food symbolise for you within that context?
The preparation of food is a ubiquitous ritual and I hope my drawings act as a visually similar lens through which to view all that it means to people.
Outside of your art, how does food influence or shape your daily life?
The most important thing to me about food is the ability for it to bring people together; having friends around my kitchen table is one of my favourite things in life. We often cook meals to mark the seasons. For example, each October I bake a pie to celebrate the Harvest Moon. We write things to let go off on slips of paper and burn them as we eat the pie to put the Summer to bed.
When choosing the foods or dining moments to feature in your art, what elements do you consider most important?
I think this comes back to storytelling again, the moments I choose to capture are those of the making of the food; the process behind the scenes, with all those memories that chef brings to the table. I have found that spending hours with someone, quietly drawing them while they make and create, facilitates conversation and conversation facilitates storytelling. I am interested to be in that space, where stories of food are being told.
What is it about food that inspires you in your practice?
I have always loved the stories food has the capacity to tell and feel it’s an intrinsic way of connecting with people.
When it comes to illustrating food, how do you balance the visual appeal with the emotional or narrative aspects you want to convey?
I make my illustrations from life in the kitchens. Little traces and marks of early parts of the illustration can be seen hidden under the final drawing. This happens because I'm drawing rapidly, trying to capture everything, and then suddenly I'll see moments of emotion or narrative, and those are the ones I choose to solidify. So it's through the process of making my illustrations that this balance emerges.
© SOPHIE DAVIDSON
Do you find any similarities between the way you approach art and cooking a meal?
I think there is a dichotomy in both between the personal nature of the creativity, and the fact that they are made to be consumed by others. I don't think either could be made solely for others, and yet they exist for that sake.
Do you have a go-to ingredient or dish that you return to often for inspiration?
I love drawing chefs preparing potatoes. There is something very nostalgic and hearty about the process, and the potatoes themselves become little sculptures as they're peeled.
If your creative process were translated into a meal, what would it be?
Something fast that begins in chaos and becomes clear as it materialises. I’m imagining a chef with all the hobs on, whisking and chopping and pouring all at once. No-one (including themselves) quite knows whats happening, and then suddenly it all makes sense.
What particular meal or dining experience has altered your perspective or approach to your work?
About a decade ago, I went to Paris to draw artists in their studios and workshops. In Micheal Woolworth’s printmaking atelier, at around midday, after a studious morning on the huge lithography presses one of Micheal’s assistant printmakers disappeared to a back corner to cook. And at 12.30 lunch began; served on a long wooden table amid a riot of colourful Jim Dine editions that stood splendidly against the walls. A salad to start followed by seafood pasta served with small glass of red wine, then an apple tart brought from someone’s mother that morning in Normandy, coffee and cigarettes all round. The lunch table served as a setting for creative ideas to be hashed out and worried through. After two hours work began again with new solutions and ideas in tow - it was glorious and Micheal assured me they did it every day. This was the moment I realised I wanted to draw people making food as well as art.
ARTIST PROFILE
Favourite snack
95% chocolate with a Medjool date squished on top of it with a cup of Kukicha tea
Favourite drink
Vodka Martini
Favourite sandwich
BLT
Favourite thing to eat in the studio
Salad Niçoise (preparation being the ultimate distraction)
Favourite spice
Coriander Seeds (most enamoured but not most essential)
You can always find _ in my fridge
Goat’s Butter
