Alan Soffer began studying sculpture and clay in 1973 transitioning to abstract painting in 1985, through a breakthrough program at Bennington College with Sandy Stone. His abstractions have been in the pursuit of the unknown, unique, and personal depths of the unconscious. Rather than confining his energies to a single medium, he sensitively chooses materials that accommodate the concepts at hand. Early constructions were in clay and found objects, then discovering printmaking and photography, which he learned on his own. Finally, focusing on painting with acrylic, oil, and wax. Encaustics allowed him to marry a sculptural component to his painterly approach, following his studies at Ringling School in 1998. The hot, pigmented wax’s inherent translucency perfectly supports his vocabulary for expressing space from the microscopic to the galactic. Whatever the direction, the work is always influenced by Joseph Campbell, the noted mythologist, who Soffer considers his mentor.
He organized the first national encaustic conference in the US in 2005 and continues teaching encaustic technique as well as abstract painting primarily through workshops. Major one person shows have been presented at: DCCA, Wilmington DE; Borowsky Gallery, Phila.; Rosenfeld Gallery, Phila.; Widener U., Chester PA; Atlantic City Art Center; Robert Roman Gallery, Scottsdale AZ, Gallery Sakiko, NYC; Fulton-Burt Gallery, Sarasota FL; Southern Exposure Gallery, West Palm Beach FL; CCAA, West Chester, PA; Central PA College, Harrisburg PA; Hoyt Institute, New Castle PA. Soffer is in many major collections, including Musee du Chateau, Montbeliard; American Express; Salmany Museum, Kurdistan; and numerous private collections.
VICTORIA DONOHUE / PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER [2003, Widener University] had this to say:
“Soffer is a serious artist with a truly poetic gift for making his paintings coalesce into visions of quite remarkable beauty. He is a colorist and very versatile in this; he uses color exuberantly and paints seemingly with abandon, yet his results are nonetheless strongly rhythmic. Such paintings project an engaging physicality, even though they rely on swift effects to declare their presence.”
ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS of note:
RIGHT SIDE LEFT SIDE JAC Philadelplhia PA 2011
GEOSCAPES Rosenfeld Gallery Philadelphia PA 2009
RINCON & BEYOND Central Pennsylvania College Harrisburg PA 2009
ALL MY LIFE’S A CIRCLE Rosenfeld Gallery Philadelphia PA 2007
CIRCLE OF LIFE Gallery Sakiko New York New York NY 2007
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONS Robert Roman Gallery Scottsdale AZ 2006
INFUSION Rosenfeld Gallery Philadelphia PA 2005
FUSION/ INFUSION Robert Roman Gallery Scottsdale AZ 2005
OSMOSIS Chester County Art Assoc West Chester PA 2005
ABSTRACT IMPRESSIONS Southern Exposure Gallery N. Palm Beach FL 2004
SAN MIGUEL SUITE Atlantic City Art Center Atlantic City NJ 2003
PROGRESSION Widener University Museum Chester PA 2003
CHROMA Parallels Gallery Philadelphia PA 2002
TOWARD THE SUBLIME Southern Exposure Gallery W. Palm Beach FL 2000
DECONSTRUCTIONS OF THE LIFE CYCLE Hoyt Institute New Castle PA 2000
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONS Artjaz Gallery Philadelphia PA 2000
MAKING IT UP Brown Art Gallery Baltimore MD 1999
NEW WORK Artist’s House Philadelphia PA 1998
DECONSTRUCTIONS Fulton-Burt Gallery Sarasota FL 1997
CONCERNING CREATION Chester County Art Assoc . West Chester PA 1995
CURIOUS NARRATIVES The Borowsky Gallery Philadelphia PA 1994
BABYLON REVISITED Nexus Resource Room Philadelphia PA 1992
EVOKING ORIGINS Del. Ctr. Contemporary Art Wilmington DE 1992
SUMMER SELECTIONS Larsen Dulman Gallery New Hope PA 1989
ONE + ONE + ONE Community Art Center Wallingford PA 1988
ELEMENTAL THREADS Natl. Museum Amer. Jewish History Philadelphia PA 1985
