Sofia Defino Leiby
*1989, United States
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Biography
Sofia Defino Leiby’s practice distills everyday consumerist landscapes into works that dissolve boundaries between two-dimensional media. Balancing on the edge between sincerity and irony, she casts scenes in a utopia-dystopia where desire and disgust do not contradict one another: advertisements and brand logos, impersonal markers of commercialism, exist alongside personal notes and mementos. Motifs are repeated and rehashed across a disparate but intertwined body of work: sometimes painted, sometimes printed, sometimes drawn, and sometimes collaged.
Leiby (*1989, United States) lives and works in Berlin. She has presented two solo exhibitions at Sweetwater, most recently in 2024. Her first institutional solo exhibition, High Noon at Kunstverein Nürnberg, opened in September 2025. Her work has also been included in group exhibitions at Stiftung BINZ39, The Wig, and the KW Institute for Contemporary Art. In 2023, her novel May Text was published by Bauer Verlag. Leiby received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute in 2011 and studied at the Städelschule from 2018 to 2019.
Selected Texts
Exhibitions
Artworks
Curriculum Vitae
Education
| 2021 | Berlin Program for Artists, Berlin, Germany |
| 2018 | HfBK Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany |
| 2011 | BFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States |
Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
| 2025 | High Noon, Kunstverein Nürnberg, Nuremberg, Germany |
| 2024 | Bathos, Sweetwater, Berlin, Germany |
| 2023 | Vitamina C,with Martin Laborde, Mala, Lisbon, Portugal |
| 2021 | Maturation, Sweetwater, Berlin, Germany |
| 2018 | If You Don’t Speak Greek, Ύλη[matter]HYLE, Athens, Greece |
| This Pamphlet Is Not Being Read By Accident, Johanne, Frankfurt am Main, Germany | |
| 2017 | Sofia Leiby + Adelhyd Van Bender, PAGE (NYC), New York, NY, United States |
| 2016 | The Making of a Beyonder, Kimmerich, Berlin, Germany |
| Thinking Creatively with Pictures, Clifton Benevento, New York, NY, United States | |
| 2015 | abcdefghijklmnop, Michael Jon Gallery, Miami, FL, United States |
| 2014 | The Drama of Leisure, Devening Projects + Editions, Chicago, IL, United States |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| 2025 | Rain sounds cover the narrow room ambience lying in attic and listening to rain falling on roof, Lifestyle, Svendborg, Denmark |
| Heroes for Ghosts, A Heart is Made of Many Folds, sangheeut, Seoul, South Korea | |
| Lost and Found, Galeria Monopol, Warsaw, Poland | |
| 2024 | Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Again, Stiftung BINZ39, Zurich, Switzerland |
| 2023 | Jahresgaben 2023, The Wig, Berlin, Germany |
| Good or Trash, Paris, France | |
| Taking Notes, Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna, Austria | |
| Viel-Vitamin A-Z, Sweetwater, Berlin, Germany | |
| 2022 | Lieu Ne Vas Plus, Pension Lutz, Munich, Germany |
| 2021 | BPA//Exhibition, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany |
| Casa Uovo, Sangt Hippolyt, Berlin, Germany | |
| 2020 | Icon Maintenance, Sweetwater, Berlin, Germany |
| Call 555-Doris, Regatta 2, Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Cordially, curated by Antonia Lia Orsi, Galerie Perpetual, Frankfurt, Germany | |
| 2019 | CLUB DAMFINO, PAGE (NYC), New York, NY, United States |
| Cecilia, Sweetwater, Berlin, Germany | |
| 2018 | I Know What You Did Last Summer, curated by Olga Cerkasova, Frankfurt am Main, Germany |
| JOAN Benefit Auction, JOAN, San Francisco, CA, United States | |
| 2017 | The Poor Connection, Four Boxes Gallery, Krabbesholm, Denmark |
| Water & Dreams, The Green Gallery, Chicago, IL, United States | |
| 2016 | Poor and Needy, The Great Poor Farm Experiment, Little Wolf, WI, United States |
| Circumscriptio, Compositio, Receptio Luminum, BFA Boatos, São Paolo, Brazil | |
| A Dance That Describes, American Medium, New York, NY, United States | |
| Redleaf, Sydney, Sydney, Australia | |
| Salon 57, 247365, New York, NY, United States | |
| 2015 | E. 1027, Joe Sheftel Gallery, New York, NY, United States |
| There is no Fact of the Matter as to Whether or not P, 247365, New York, United States | |
| Drawings | Fridges, Greene Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA, United States | |
| Maker’s Mark, Regina Rex, New York, NY, United States | |
| SPEARS, Loyal Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden | |
| Rock Steady, Future Gallery, Berlin, Germany | |
| A Friend Is Only A Human Body, Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York, NY, United States | |
| 2014 | 24/7, Rail Curatorial Projects at the Monte Carlo, Miami, FL, United States |
| Volatile, Galeri Jacob Bjorn, Aarhus, Denmark | |
| Rocket Run: New Abstraction From Chicago, Elder Gallery, Lincoln, NE, United States | |
| Two Rocks Don’t Make A Duck, LVL3 Gallery, Chicago, IL, United States | |
| 2013 | Minku, Are You Here?, Springsteen Gallery, Baltimore, MD, United States |
| 2 of a kind, LVL3, Chicago, IL, United States | |
| SHIT IS REAL, Devening Projects, Chicago, IL, United States | |
| 2012 | Quiet Echo on Loud Wind, ACRE Projects, Chicago, IL, United States |
| Did You See Heaven: WYSIWYG, peregrineprogram, Chicago , IL, United States | |
| Robots Will Keep Us As Pets, Alderman Exhibitions, Chicago, IL, United States | |
| The Empty Vessel, Manifest Exhibitions, Chicago, IL, United States | |
| Israel Lund, Kristan Kennedy, Sofia Leiby, MermHaus, Portland, OR, United States | |
| the big stink moves like a moth towards the light, Hungryman Gallery, Chicago, IL, United States | |
| 2011 | Paper Chasers, Nudashank, Baltimore, MD, United States |
Publications and Texts
| 2023 | May Text, Bauer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, Germany |
| 2020 | Outpatient, Texte zur Kunst, July 1 |
| 2019 | Plan B, Methods, Leisure Press, Vol. 3 |
| Total Krank, Pure Fiction | |
| 2018 | Prosthetics for a Ruined Lion – A PF Suppository, Pure Fiction |
| 2017 | Femme Phthale with Lise Haller Baggesen, The Composing Rooms: A Timeline, Munich: Reflektor M, 88-91 |
| Sofia Leiby: Thinking Creatively With Pictures, No Coast Editions, Chicago, IL, United States | |
| Brask Studio Visits III., Brask Editions, Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| Poor & Needy: An Exhibition on Art, Migration, and Debt, Poor Farm Press, Milwaukee, WI, United States and Krabbesholm Højskole, Skive, Denmark | |
| 2016 | Readleaf, Sydney, Sydney, Australia |
| 2015 | My First Review, Line Script Diary, Vol. 2. |
| 2014 | An Active Line, Off-White Press, New York, NY, United States |
Selected Press
| 2025 | Gabriela Acha, In Media Res: Sofia Defino Leiby, Flash Art, Issue 351, July 15 |
| 2024 | Rebecca O'Dwyer, The Slapstick Poetics of Sofia Defino Leiby, Art Review, September 11 |
| Robert Frost, Sofia Defino Leiby, Émergent Magazine, Issue 11, June 17 | |
| 2023 | Megan Hullander, A literary window into the world of Courtesy_, Document, September 21 |
| 2021 | BPA Exhibition 2021, KubaParis, September 18 |
| 2019 | Beate Scheder, Regionale Landwirtschaft als Vorbild, Die Welt, April 6 |
| 2016 | Louisa Elderton, Critic's Pick: Sofia Leiby at Kimmerich, Artforum, November 5 |
| Ariela Gittlen, 7 Vanishing Technologies Making a Comeback through Art, Artsy, August 16 | |
| Circumscripto, Compositio, Receptio Luminum at BFA Boatos Fine Arts, Mousse Magazine | |
| Pictures at an Exhibition: Sofia Leiby at Clifton Benevento, ARTnews, February 12 | |
| Sofia Leiby, 'Thinking Creatively With Pictures', TimeOut, February 1 | |
| 2015 | 18 Artists To Watch in 2016, Blouin Artinfo, December 14 |
| Kate Messinger, Art Basel Artist of the Day: Sofia Leiby, Paper Mag, December 6 | |
| Julia Felsenthal, Searching for the Architect Eileen Gray on the Lower East Side, Vogue, July 29 | |
| Nathaniel Ainley, Contemporary 'Cave Painting' Comes on Display in Mexico, Vice, July 24 | |
| Katherine Wisniewski, The Emancipation of Eileen Gray: Six Artists In Conversation with E.1027, Curbed, July 15 | |
| 'E.1027' a group show considering Eileen Gray’s modernist villa E.1027 at Joe Sheftel Gallery, New York, Purple, July 28 | |
| 2014 | Sofia Leiby's Nostalgia for the Future, Inside\Within, March 16 |
| Alan Pocaro, Sofia Leiby: The Drama of Leisure at Devening Projects, Daily Serving, January 15 | |
| Sofia Leiby, DUST Magazine Online, January 14 | |
| Steve Ruiz, Review: Sofia Leiby/Devening Projects, Newcity, January 7 | |
| 2013 | Jason Foumberg, 5 Questions for Painter Sofia Leiby, Chicago Magazine Online, December 13 |
| Artist/As Writer/As Critic: An interview with Jason Lazarus and Sofia Leiby of Chicago Artist Writers, Dilettante Journal: New Harmony, Vol. 1 |
Selected Film Screenings and Performances
| 2025 | May Text with DJ Hanil Jeong, Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland |
| 2023 | Gallery Weekend Festival, Studio Mondial, Berlin, Germany |
| 2022 | Poesie bei Nacht, Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland |
| 2018 | Pure Fiction, Ashley, Berlin, Germany |
| Crossing the Line – A Launch, with Pure Fiction, Frankfurt am Main, Germany | |
| 2017 | Handwriting analysis, The Great Poor Farm Experiment, Little Wolf, WI, United States |
| 2015 | Handwriting analysis, SculptureCenter, New York, NY, United States |