Toronto-based artist and sculptor Sophie Defrancesca creates lifelike wire mesh sculptures of dresses, gowns and other figurative works that are capable of fooling the eye from a distance. Her finely twined bodices, adorned with Swarovski crystals, fit exhibition spaces as easily as they would a fashion runway.
DeFrancesca was ten years old when her mother passed away, leading to an interest in maternal figures. An immigrant who fled wartime Europe, DeFrancesca’s mother was resilient and fashionable, often captured in photographs wearing beautiful clothing handmade by family members. As a child, DeFrancesca used these pictures to create clothing for her dolls, both as a way of remembering her mother and to engage with her fascination with vintage apparel. DeFrancesca later graduated in 1990 from the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) and in the early 2000s, she began using wire mesh as a design material to examine rigidity in fashion and the role of femininity. She shaped the galvanized steel mesh into life-size human forms.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, she has expanded her practice into laser-cut plexiglas to allow for more intricate detailing that furthers the illusion. She has exhibited in group and solo shows across North America, including at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff, Alberta; the Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln, Nebraska; and at various spaces in Toronto, Montreal, New York and Miami. Her 2022 exhibitions included shows at the Newzones Gallery Of Contemporary Art in Calgary and the Oeno Gallery in Prince Edward County, Ontario.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of Sophie DeFranesca’s sculptures and mixed media.
Iconic Marilyn in Iridescent Gold 3
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Original Blonde Bombshell (Variation 2)
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Black Venus
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Atomic Pink
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Ms. Universal Love
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Champagne Celebration
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Garnet Red Aphrodite
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Solar Radiance
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Rebirth of Venus
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Blue Aphrodite
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Vintage Cameo
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Control of the Masses 22
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Golden Era
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Control of the Masses 20
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Blue Moon
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Primal Blue
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Just Too Much
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Buck Berry
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Breakfast at Tiffany's (Variation 5)
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Ms. Parallel Universe
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Midas Touch
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Sun King
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Forest Swag
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Big Hair Big Dreams
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Control of the Masses 17
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Control of the Masses 16
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Control of the Masses 14
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Blondes Have More Fun
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Fortress America
By Kat Flyn
Located in New Orleans, LA
assemblage sculpture: vintage wood fort with hand-painted graffiti, a vintage handmade wood carving of Uncle Sam & Trump, confederate flag scrap blindfold, metal chains, 4 vintage fl...
Mixed Media
I.D. Bracelet
By Esperanza Cortes
Located in New Orleans, LA
ESPERANZA CORTÉS is a Colombian born contemporary multidisciplinary artist based in New York City. Cortés has exhibited in the United States in solo and group exhibitions in venues including Smack Mellon Gallery, Neuberger Museum of Art, Bronx Museum of Art, Queens Museum, El Museo Del Barrio, MoMA PS1, Socrates Sculpture Park and White-box Gallery in New York City. Nationally Cortes exhibitions include Cleveland Art Museum, OH, CSU Galleries at Cleveland University, OH, Helen Day Art Center, VT and The Lorenzo Homar...
Metal
Batman
By Tony Dagradi
Located in New Orleans, LA
materials: Greatest Batman Stories 1938-83 (excerpts) --- TONY DAGRADI is an internationally recognized jazz performer, artist, composer, author and educator. For over three deca...
Wood, Paper, Mixed Media
Nude Standing Woman - Relief Sculpture
By Jerzy Mazur
Located in Hallein, AT
The relief sculpture is framed. The visible jumps on the legs were intentional and existed from the start, because the artist was inspired by ancient ...
Mixed Media, Wood
$2,373
H 19.69 in W 14.38 in D 11.82 in
Máscara Oso - 21st Century, Contemporary Sculpture, Figurative, Recycled Objects
By Miquel Aparici
Located in Barcelona, Catalonia
Miquel Aparici's sculptures are surprising assemblages made from old objects that had other uses in the past, and which the artist recovers and uses in ...
Found Objects, Mixed Media
$2,587
H 11.82 in W 4.34 in D 4.34 in
Result Of Radioactive Contamination - 21st Cent, Contemporary Japanese Sculpture
By Mari Ito
Located in Barcelona, Catalonia
Series: Origin of Desire Mari Ito was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1980. She majored in Nihonga, Japanese-style painting made with traditional practices, techniques and materials. She mo...
Clay, Polystyrene, Glue, India Ink, Mixed Media, Pigment
The American Way
By Kat Flyn
Located in New Orleans, LA
assemblage sculpture: vintage wood boxes containing 20 vintage handmade & painted wood toy game men, vintage handheld dexterity game that reads “The American Way – Liberty and Justice for All...
Mixed Media
Bride
By Kat Flyn
Located in New Orleans, LA
assemblage sculpture: old wood mantle clock box refashioned to resemble a Morocco Riad mansion, 6 antique painted skittles pins, antique photo with ...
Found Objects, Mixed Media
Human
By Akihiko Sugiura
Located in New Orleans, LA
AKIHIKO SUGIURA is a Japanese painter from Hyogo, Japan whose artistic style mixes purely physical non-representational art with a base of traditional representational painting. A co...
Mixed Media
$2,373
H 23.63 in W 11.82 in D 13.78 in
Máscara Jirafa - 21st Cent, Contemporary Sculpture, Figurative, Recycled Objects
By Miquel Aparici
Located in Barcelona, Catalonia
Miquel Aparici's sculptures are surprising assemblages made from old objects that had other uses in the past, and which the artist recovers and uses in a creative and ingenious way. ...
Found Objects, Mixed Media
$6,543
H 57.09 in W 70.48 in D 0.2 in
Untitled, Neptune, Series Stand - Contemporary Photography - Painting Object
By Magdalena Peszkowska
Located in Hallein, AT
Individual technique on grey military blanket Magdalena Peszkowska born in 1980 in Gdańsk, Poland. Studied in Department of Painting at Academy of F...
Textile, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Monoprint, Other Medium
Tunisia
By Esperanza Cortes
Located in New Orleans, LA
ESPERANZA CORTÉS is a Colombian born contemporary multidisciplinary artist based in New York City. Cortés has exhibited in the United States in solo and group exhibitions in venues i...
Glass, Leather, Clay, Thread, Mixed Media
The Blue Buck
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Iconic Marilyn in Iridescent Gold 2
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Toronto artist Sophie DeFrancesca has always been fascinated by vintage fashion. Pictures of her mother wearing gorgeous frocks from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s served as a connection to...
Mixed Media
Blue Lagoon
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Bloomfield, ON
With the addition of deep blue lagoon pigment the artist has transformed galvanized steel mesh, wire and liquid latex into an elegant evening dress. This g...
Metal
Control of the Masses No 25
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Bloomfield, ON
Galvanized steel mesh, wire, metal screen and liquid rubber are transformed into a lingerie confection with the addition of black paint, pearl beads and dangling grey Swarovski cryst...
Mixed Media
True Blue
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Bloomfield, ON
Galvanized steel mesh, wire and brilliant turquoise liquid latex are transformed into a life sized trophy head of a buck in this wall mounted sculpture. In mythology, the stag may re...
Steel
Eternal Deep
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Bloomfield, ON
Playful sculpture of the iconic trophy of a majestic moose head. This work is lifesized, and the scale (including the shadlow) gives the work great presence. Toronto-based artist,...
Stainless Steel
Higher Love
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Bloomfield, ON
An elegant formal white sculpture of a wedding dress that references desire, marriage, elegance and confidence. Defrancesca's forms are rendered out of galvanized and stainless s...
Stainless Steel
A Star is Born
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Bloomfield, ON
Toronto-based artist, Sophie Defrancesca graduated from the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University) in 1990. While working in various commercial art fields for over a decade, sh...
Stainless Steel
Mademoiselle Extraordinaire
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Bloomfield, ON
This mixed media sculpture of a spaghetti-strap cocktail dress by Sophie DeFrancesca conjures up an image of an idealized life women may have enjoyed in 1950s Paris or Hollywood. The playful little red...
Stainless Steel
Avec Plaisier
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Bloomfield, ON
This saucy sculpture hangs suspended on clear lines. Toronto-based artist, Sophie DeFrancesca graduated from the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University) in 1990. While workin...
Stainless Steel
Skin Deep
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Bloomfield, ON
This elegant and evocative teal sculpture floats in space, suspended on two clear lines. Toronto-based artist, Sophie Defrancesca graduated from the Ontario College of Art (now O...
Stainless Steel
Midnight Whispers
By Sophie DeFrancesca
Located in Bloomfield, ON
Wall-mounted dress, part of DeFrancesca's gown series. Rich blue black paint sparkles in the light. Handcrafted roses adorn the wire mesh gown sculpture. The shadow becomes an intere...
Steel