RYAN HOFFMANN









2021

SORA
Tambaran 2 Gallery
NYC, USA


List of work


Photo courtesy of Tmbaran 2 Gallery

RYAN HOFFMANN STUDIO © 2025 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED


The name SORA initially was as a placeholder for this exhibition—it was intended to be my first solo show in New York. The plan shifted several times. I started making work for it in late 2020, but as the world changed, I found myself without a studio and had to begin again—build a new space from scratch.

Around the same time, I received an email that altered the exhibition dates and significantly shortened the timeline. Still, I kept working.

Eventually, I realised the show would consist of AIR paintings on paper and several AIR painting discs. When making the AIR works, I draw from a large catalogue of photographs, writing, and watercolour studies—some of which evolve into digital drafts. I’m always collecting and making these. The paintings are made in bursts, referencing both the archive and memory.

After finalising the works and their titles, I noticed that the timeframe stretched back to just after I’d returned from Berlin: I was waiting for hand surgery, relocating to Melbourne, navigating lockdowns, losing a studio, building another, moving through personal difficulties—and finally choosing to stay put. Until then, I’d felt like I was always living with my bags packed.

The name Sora originally surfaced as the name of a fictional character—one I read as calm, level, and grounded. In Japanese, Sora means “sky” or “void.” It’s also the name I gave my cat. For a while, it felt strange to name a show this—but eventually I understood that the name resonates with this particular time in my life: a period in which I’m learning to be calm, level, and grounded.





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