Sculptures

The artist exclusively uses ceramic – a material sometimes considered as an outmoded means of expression or as one irrelevant in contemporary art – to give shape to new forms with a surprising vigor. She contributes to restore this material to favor and give it a new, strong presence in the field of art. The artist’s work surprises by its ability to give substance to autonomous forms that seem to live in a world alien to ours. All in all, Elsa Sahal’s universe originates in a kind of premeditated madness: Le Gilles [« The Gilles »], for instance, in its physical authority, is a headless sovereign. It sits in the center of strange courtesan sculptures that choreograph the space. The expression of a vital drive, of an erotic power can be felt in all these works. The artist does not seek to emphasize these aspects, yet they prove omnipresent. Most of Sahal’s latest sculptures are covered with polychromatic enamel, casually applied – or so it seems. Created during a residence at the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, they take on the most improbable colors thanks to their quasi « seismic » effects.

Elsa Sahal never gives in to the easy statement: she is a stubborn artist whose works take hold of all that is left in the world, sensuality.