Sonya Bogdanova works in the space between sculpture and painting to understand the icon's afterlife. She examines how the iconography of prehistoric sculpture, base metals, caves and stones, and ruins, undergird our experience of contemporary life. Bogdanova is interested in devices that conceal a system's workings. Her objects, made of common things like clay, pigment and refuse, serve as passageways to transformative places. Skeptical of established political narratives, she makes sculptures and installations that transmit suppressed knowledge, feelings, and behaviors.
Bogdanova is a Soviet-born Jewish immigrant who came to the US after the collapse of the USSR. Based in Chicago, she has shown in the US, UK, and South Korea. Solo exhibitions have included the Chicago Cultural Center, Parlour and Ramp (Chicago), Ignition Projects (Chicago), Western Pole (Chicago), and Backspace Gallery (DeKalb, IL), among others. Select group exhibitions include Gallery 400 (Chicago), Terrain Exhibitions (Chicago), Mana Contemporary (Chicago), Roman Susan (Chicago), Flatland (Chicago), No Nation Tangential Unspace Art Lab (Chicago), G-CADD (Granite City, IL), Random Access Gallery (Syracuse, NY), and Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (Gimpo, South Korea). Bogdanova was named a 2023 Artist to Watch by Comfort Station in Chicago. Past residencies include Holly & the Neighbors (Chicago) and Jiwar Foundation (Barcelona). Bogdanova holds an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago and BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is an educator at SAIC, the City Colleges of Chicago, and Chicago Art Partnerships in Education.
✉️ sbogda @ saic.edu
Education
2021 MFA, Studio Arts, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
2012 BFA, Painting, School of the Art Institute, Chicago
Selected Professional Experience
2023-present Adjunct Professor (Instructor of Record), Art Appreciation, Wilbur Wright College, Chicago
2021-present Lecturer (Instructor of Record), Ceramics, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2021-present CoLab Teaching Artist, Chicago Art Partnerships in Education
2020-2023 Adjunct Assistant Professor (Instructor of Record), Painting, University of Illinois, Chicago
Solo Exhibitions
2023 No Weepholes, Parlour and Ramp, Chicago
2023 Second Sun, Backspace Gallery, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL
2023 A Dream We Dream Together is Reality, Ignition Projects, Chicago
2021 Sonya Bogdanova for Western Pole, Western Pole, Chicago (curated by Jesse Malmed)
2021 Cloak at NFO XPO Booth, Successful Failures: 30 Years of Lumpens, Radical Media and Building Communities of the Future, Lumpen, Chicago Cultural Center (curated by Paula Volpato and Ed Marszewski)
2021 Your House is Mine, Ignition Projects, Chicago
2019 Karens, Fulton Street Collective, Chicago
2017 Are You a Lover?, Obverse Gallery, Chicago
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Death Lullaby, Comfort Station, Chicago (forthcoming)
2024 Ceramics Faculty and Staff Exhibition, Gallery 1922, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2023 Green Noise, Insurance Gallery at G-CADD, Granite City, IL (curated by Chris Reeves)
2023 Invisible Architecture, Ralph Arnold Gallery, Chicago (curated by Marina Ross)
2023 Perspectives 2023, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gimpo, South Korea
2022 Window Shopping, Purple Window Gallery, Mana Contemporary, Chicago
2022 Make Holes with Sonya Bogdanova at MdW Fair, Mana Contemporary, Chicago
2022 Performing Artist for Lauren Sudbrink, Courageously Easy & Obligingly Alone, Roman Susan, Chicago
2022 Occupied! Performance and Video Festival, Random Access Gallery, Syracuse, NY (curated by grace otten)
2022 A T h i r t y O n e M i l l i o n F i v e H u n d r e d F i f t y S i x T h o u s a n d n i n e h u n d r e d F i f t y T w o S e c o n d s, No Nation Tangential Unspace Art Lab, Chicago (curated by llio sophia mish for The Neighbors)
2021 LOCUS: IX, The Martin, Chicago (curated by Whitney LaMora)
2021 K. I. T. (Keep in Touch), Terrain Biennial, Terrain Exhibitions, Chicago
2021 Untitled (moving image showcase), Intersect, Mana Contemporary, Chicago
2021 Ordinary Horrors, Gallery 400, Chicago (curated by Astria Suparak)
2020 ESP USA, Flatland, Chicago
2020 ART-IN-PLACE, CNL Projects and Terrain Exhibitions, Chicago
2020 BYOA, School of Art & Art History, University of Illinois at Chicago
2020 Small Works for Big Change, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, New York, NY
2019 Graduate Open House/Open Studios, School of Art & Art History, University of Illinois at Chicago
2019 Mary Doesn’t Just Wear Blue, YorkExplore, York, United Kingdom (curated by Aurelia Ubeda Puigdomenech)
2016 Gallery Opening, Obverse Gallery, Chicago (curated by Carrie Ahaus)
2016 Flora and Fauna, Sideshow Gallery, Chicago
2015 GAG GIG, Cobalt Studio, Chicago (self-curated)
2015 The Cabinet of Secret Paintings, Corner, Chicago (curated by Betsy Zacsek)
2012 Spring BFA Exhibition, School of the Art Institute, Chicago
Selected Community Projects
2020 Artists for Bernie, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago (co-sponsored by Chicago DSA)
2019 Lumpen Drawing Rally: A Benefit Party for Public Media Institute, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago
2018 Lumpen Drawing Rally: A Benefit Party for Public Media Institute, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago
2018 Mural Assistant, Major Taylor Trail Project by Bernard Williams, Chicago
2016 Mural Assistant, Northwest Middle School by Bernard Williams, Chicago
2014 Prints in Paradise, Spudnik Annex, Chicago
Awards/Honors/Residencies
2023 Artist to Watch, Comfort Station, Chicago
2022 Chicago Creative Worker Assistance Program Grant, DCASE & Allies for Community Business, Chicago
2021 Artist in Residence, Holly & the Neighbors, Chicago
2019 Art Department Scholarship, University of Illinois, Chicago
2015 Artist in Residence, Jiwar Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
Collections
Plant Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Chicago
Private collections
Selected Publications
“First pick for Top V Weekend Picks (9/28-10/4),” The Visualist Chicago/Bad at Sports, September 28, 2023. https://badatsports.com/2023/top-v-weekend-picks-9-28-10-4/
Chris Reeves, “Cloud Atlas: A Review of Sonya Bogdanova at Ignition Project Space,” NewCity, May 22, 2023. https://art.newcity.com/2023/05/22/cloud-atlas-a-review-of-sonya-bogdanova-at-ignition-project-space/
Heather Higgins, “‘Invisible Architecture’ Explores Nature and Perception in Gallery Show,” Loyola Phoenix, March 22, 2023. https://loyolaphoenix.com/2023/03/invisible-architecture-explores-nature-and-perception-in-gallery-show/
Lisa Korneichuk, “How to be Independent: Lessons from Sonya Bogdanova,” F Newsmagazine, February 16, 2022. https://fnewsmagazine.com/2022/02/how-to-be-independent-lessons-from-sonya-bogdanova/
LeeLoo Rose, “World vs Constructs//Re:Sun,” LOCUS Gallery, December 10, 2021. https://www.locus.gallery/sonya-leeloo
Astria Suparak, “Sonya Bogdanova”, Sidelong Glances + Ordinary Horrors, UIC School of Art & Art History, April, 2021.
Ramsey Hoey, “Sonya Bogdanova”, Second Nature: A Feminist Digital Archive for Emerging Artists, March 8, 2021. https://www.secondnature-digitalarchive.com/archive/sonya-bogdanova
llio sophia, “Sonya Bogdanova”, Holly & the Neighbors, March 8, 2021. https://hollyandtheneighbors.org/Sonya-Bogdanova-Singing-AIR
“Hy Thurman by Sonya Bogdanova.” Reader Coloring Book, compiled by Tracy Baim, 39. Chicago: Chicago Reader, 2020.
UIC MFA Program Zine, “Sonya Bogdanova”, UIC Open Studios 2019, November, 2019.
Aurelia Ubeda Puigdomenech, “The Artists”, Mary Doesn’t Just Wear Blue: An Exhibition. July 12, 2019. http://www.notjustblue.co.uk/
Olivia Liendo, “Arte y comunidad comulgan en Pilsen”, Contratiempo. Issue 127, October 9, 2015. https://issuu.com/contratiempo/docs/contratiempo127
Rachel Calderon Navarro, Sam Schultz, and Brett Powell, “Sonya Bogdanova”, Fathom Space. May 25, 2015. http://www.fathomspace.com/blog/2015/5/25/sonya-bogdanova-1
“Sonya Bogdanova”, FORGETGOOD zine. Volume 1, Issue 4. October 7, 2012. https://issuu.com/forgetgood/docs/issue4