“A gifted young artist able to risk and deliver.”
—ARTFORUM

Sophia Cleary is a queer, genreless, childless & interdisciplinary artist, working with jokes, video, dance, music, and more. She has presented her work in NYC at the Center for Performance Research, Danspace Project, the Chocolate Factory, Dixon Place, The Kitchen, and e-flux and in Los Angeles at the Hammer Museum and Human Resources Gallery. Sophia is the founder and coordinator of the works-in-progress series REHEARSAL and former co-editor for Ugly Duckling Presse's performance annual Emergency INDEX. She is one-half of feminist punk band Penis, a collaboration with Samara Davis.

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 SOPHIA CLEARY CV

Education 
MFA Candidate, Visual Arts, University of California San Diego, 2026 
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME 
MA NYU Tisch School of the Arts, New York, NY 
BA Marlboro College, Marlboro, VT 
Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL 

Selected Performances 

  • “The Holy Space of Liveness,” October 2023, David Horvitz’s 7th Ave Garden, LA, CA 

  • “It Gets Worse,” Assembly Fest as a part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, August 2-26 2023, Assembly Studios, Edinburgh, Scotland 

  • “One & Only,” written and performed by Sophia Cleary and directed by Sara Lyons at The Kitchen, September 2021, NYC 

  • “Spread Eagle Too Thin,” The Duplex, 2019, NYC and Lyric Hyperion Theater, 2019, LA, CA 

  • “Miracle,” co-created with Neal Medlyn, The Chocolate Factory, 2017, NYC 

  • "It is from here that the world unfolds," Real Time and Space, March 2017, Oakland, CA 

  • "Female Figure II" at e-flux, September 2017, NYC 

  • "Childless" at New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA Fair), May 2016, NYC 

  • "Emerging Artist" at the Performing Garage, May 2015, NYC 

  • "urn is the image" at Human Resources Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, April 13, 2014 

Residencies 
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY 
Real Time and Space, Oakland, CA 
The Performing Garage Presents, New York, NY 
The Shandaken Project, Shandaken, NY 

Training 
Idiot Workshop with John Gilkey and Amrita Dhaliwal, Los Angeles, CA 
Mime Theatre Studio with Lorin Eric Salm, Los Angeles, CA 
The Acting Studio with James Price, Meisner Intensive, NYC 
Upright Citizens Brigade, Improv 101-401, Los Angeles, CA 
Physical Comedy Through Mime, Goldmime Studio with Gregg Goldston, New York, NY 

Press 
“One & Only” by Jess Barbagallo, Movement Research Performance Journal, summer 2022 
“Sophia Cleary’s “One & Only” at The Kitchen” by Noa Weiss, Culturebot, January 2022 
"Punk Band Penis May Be Small, But They Have Some Huge Fans" by Nicole Disser, Bedford + Bowery, December 2015. 
“9 Truly Avant-Garde Musicians You Should Add To Your Playlist Right Now” by Priscilla Frank, Huffington Post, September 2015. 
“Pass It On” by Jennifer Krasinski, Artforum, June 2015. 
“Sophia Cleary’s REHEARSAL” by Samara Davis, Movement Research Performance Journal, Spring 2013. 

Other Projects 

  • Founder and Coordinator of REHEARSAL, a performance works-in-progress series in residence at Junior High LA and Public Displays of Altadena. Previously in residence at the Invisible Dog Art Center, Knockdown Center, and Cage. 2011-Present. 

  • Board Member of Women and Performance, a feminist journal published by NYU press. 2014-present. 

  • Programming Committee Member, Human Resources Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2015-2022. 

  • Co-Editor of Emergency INDEX, published through Ugly Duckling Presse. 2011-2018.