Sonja van Dolron

painting - drawing - photography - social

I'm a seasoned viewer. Look better, look further is my motto. I guess beauty everywhere. Especially right in front of my feet.

Glitter and shine, sensation and entertainment, flashing colors and neon lights: in our world people frantically try to create 'beauty'. A thin layer of clean shine. For me, the beauty lies in the details of everyday places and events.

Objects that fulfill a functional task, objects that are not intended to satisfy our senses, play the leading role in my photos: Bricks, electricity houses, parking lots or road markings. To the casual observer, these 'sidekicks' around us are 'merely' functional.

When I look I try to see paint. In thin or thick layers. Grayed and discolored. I look for rhythm and rhyme, in lines and shapes. I am looking for a crop that alienates the image. Eventually I see a space and think about what I want to leave out or exaggerate. It's beautiful where you are.

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    • Studio on wheels; creating and placing art in the outdoor space

    Project

    • 01-07-2018
    • In collaboration with: Cultuur concrete, municipality of Rotterdam, KindeRdam, Sofia Children's Hospital, DOCK Foundation, SOL Foundation, Mathilde Elise Fund, Speeltuin Oudedijk Foundation... and many others
    • Location: outside, Rotterdam
    • It is not without reason that the pop-up studio has wheels. I have been riding around Rotterdam with a cargo bike that has been converted into a studio for six years now and I organize street workshops in collaboration with Cultuur Concreet and various welfare foundations. I go to places where the city doesn't seem so friendly. With my field easels I try to transform that stony, even chilly city in some places, into an inspiring outdoor studio, for myself and anyone who happens to want to participate.
    • https://www.atelieropwielen.com/

    Outside Borgerstraat

    Exhibition / presentation

    • 02-06-2023 t/m 07-09-2023
    • In collaboration with: BAD Foundation Niels Smits van Burgst, Wilma Kun, Kathrin Wolkowicz, Jopie Stroop, Heyer Thurnheer, Michael van Kekem, Annelies De Greef.Marc Muellermarcmuller
    • Location: Foundation Bad Talingstraat 5 3082 MG Rotterdam The Netherlands, Rotterdam
    • Group exhibition of selection participants from the Borgerstraat studio complex.
    • https://www.foundationbad.nl/outside-borgerstraat/

    Open studios Borgerstraat

    Exhibition / presentation

    • 20-05-2022 t/m 22-05-2022
    • In collaboration with: Willem Weismann
    • Location: Borgerstraat, Rotterdam
    • In 2002, I (Sonja van Dolron) and Willem Weismann both graduated with paintings from the School of the Arts in Arnhem. After graduating, Willem left for London where he now lives and works, I returned to my hometown of Rotterdam. We kept in touch all this time, but now for the first time our paintings are hanging in a room again, in my studio at Borgerstraat 24 Rotterdam.

    Making business

    Exhibition / presentation

    • 01-11-2018 t/m 31-05-2019
    • In collaboration with: Diana van Wijk
    • Location: Oude Blokker at Bergse Dorpstraat 58, Rotterdam
    • Pop-up store, run by the makers themselves, gives purchasing a work an extra dimension. Finding something out in conversation with the artist in question is a true adventure. In the open studios, work is done right under your supervision. You are very welcome to take a look at the six completely different studios where the artists work. What makes this Case extra lively is that you can also 'make' anything with it! Fun workshops every week to experience the making process.
    • https://www.voordekunst.nl/projecten/6869-in-de-maak-zaak-010-1

    It's beautiful where you are... a see-through project in the Netherlands

    Project

    • 01-08-2015 t/m 02-03-2018
    • In collaboration with: Various stores temporarily sold the products... Mascolori, Niche, Meulenburg
    • Location: Everywhere in the Netherlands,
    • With my eyes closed I poked at the map of the Netherlands. Sometimes in the middle of a field, sometimes in a Vinux district. There I took 4 see-through photos. Every month I sent everyone who wanted to travel with me a photographic greeting from a random place in the Netherlands with an alternative view of the Dutch landscape. People could also order a customized viewing package themselves. I traveled to a dizzying number of places in the Netherlands and discovered: Where you are, it is beautiful...
    • https://www.sonjavandolron.com/index.php/groeten-uit-doorkijkreis/

    Lichtbericht: an alternative place for exhibition

    Exhibition / presentation

    • 01-01-2007 t/m 01-09-2009
    • In collaboration with: Voorhaven One, Par 31
    • Location: online, via email and website, Rotterdam
    • A new kind of exhibition: a playful photo exhibition via a weekly email. Every Sunday I went out with my camera and sent a growing number of subscribers one photo via email that same day. It started as a weekly column from myself, I met more and more artists who wanted to email me. After two years I organized a group exhibition in Voorhaven One. My light messages and Sunday photos were also exhibited in Par31.
    • www.lichtbericht.com

    Living room project

    Project

    • 01-10-2002 t/m 31-03-2003
    • In collaboration with: CBK Rotterdam, Fundacion Drenth Knecht Foundation
    • Location: Many living rooms in Belgium, France and Spain, from Rotterdam to Callossa d'En Sarria,
    • A journey from my studio in Rotterdam to the studio of the Fundacion Drenth Knecht Foundation in Callossa d'En Sarria. During the trip through the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain, I photographed the interiors of local residents that I encountered on my journey. I wrote a travel report and made reports of the pictures, residents and their interiors. After three months of traveling I was able to work in a Spanish village for 3 months making paintings. In Rotterdam I was able to exhibit the works in the CBK.