NADA 2024 - In her latest abstract works, Sally Scopa thinks through the creativity, seasonality, and strangeness of being in a body. In Upside-down Orchard, spherical, fruit-like forms float upwards and draw the viewer's eye around the scene. The piece is a meditation on what it means to nurture something outside the self, whether painting, plant or loved one. For Scopa, painting brings a sense of stillness, excitement, and an awareness of the body; her work is an invitation to share in this focused state. Her paintings take shape through a process of layering, erasing back down to excavate previous layers, and allowing moves to accumulate intuitively, each in response to the one before. - Oolong Gallery

Sally Scopa is a painter based in Bellingham, Washington, where she teaches at Western Washington University. She runs Queen—a project space with the dimensions of a queen-sized bed—out of her home. The space supports emerging artists in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Scopa has been awarded residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, SOMA in Mexico City, and the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, France. Recent shows include a a solo exhibition at Oolong Gallery (San Diego) and a two-person exhibition at el Museo de la Ciudad (Querétaro, MX) with Carlos Vielma, as well as group exhibitions at 550 Gallery (New York) Ladies’ Room LA (Los Angeles) and Radio28 (Mexico City). Scopa holds a BA in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University and an MFA in Art Practice from Stanford University. She is originally from San Francisco, California.