Apolonia Sokol

Born in Paris in 1988, Apolonia Sokol is a painter.

Apolonia Sokol is a French figurative painter of Danish and Polish origin. She grew up in the working-class district of Château Rouge, in the Parisian theater Le Lavoir Moderne, where her parents welcomed a large number of intellectuals, writers, poets and refugees. Later, she welcomed various feminist figures with whom she forged a lasting friendship, notably Oksana Shachko, whose portrait she painted several times.

After graduating from the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris, Apolonia Sokol moved to the United States, settling in New York where she worked in the studio of painter Dan Colen. She later moved to Los Angeles, where she made friends with artists such as Elizabeth Peyton and Henry Taylor, who painted her portrait.

Back in Paris, Apolonia Sokol exhibited her work in 2016 in Copenhagen at Andersens’s Contemporary gallery, then in Istanbul at The Pill gallery in 2018. Apolonia Sokol’s work has been exhibited as part of institutional projects, such as the exhibitions: Tainted Love / Club Edit at Villa Arson in 2019 (curated by Yann Chevallier), Aux sources des années 1980, at Musée de l’Abbaye Sainte-Croix, Sables d’Olonne, in 2019 (curated by Amélie Adamo), Mademoiselle at Crac Occitanie in 2018 (curated by Tara Londi), Tainted Love, inaugural exhibition at Comfort Moderne in 2017 (curated by Yann Chevalier), Peindre, dit-elle at Musée des beaux-arts de Dole in 2017 (curated by Julie Crenn). Her next exhibition, Possessed, will be held at MOCO in Montpellier in 2020 (curated by Vincent Honoré).

She is shortlisted for the Emerige prize in 2018 and winner of the Antoine Marin prize.
HBO & Danish Documentary are producing a documentary on the artist’s journey, directed by Lea Glob, who has been following her for nearly ten years.
Apolonia Sokol is represented by The Pill gallery.

The project she is carrying out at Villa Medici revolves around and pays homage to the figure of Artemisia Gentileschi.