Artist

Patricia Zieseniss

Birthplace

Paris

Living in

Yvelines

Education

Beaux-Arts de Paris

Ateliers du Carrousel

Medium

Sculpture

Clay is my tool, my mode of expression. For me, a sculpture is an idea. It gives shape to a thought, a question, an emotion.

Contemplating a sculpture by Patricia Zieseniss is an initiatory experience. Whether it represents a face - a Self-portrait - with a surprisingly soft and curved geometry, a horse named Cavale in a figurative style with cubist accents or an Ensemble that draws abstract ascending landscapes, the artist invites us to observe the object of our attention from all angles, in all its dimensions. "The eye wanders, turns, gauges, stops and goes back in search of tension and the play of light," she explains. It is as if this dance of the gaze makes it possible to glimpse the essence of things, to reveal their multiple, complex and contradictory character. A poetic game sometimes occurs between the work and its title, as in Depuis la nuit des temps, which invites the viewer to move around the work. Depending on the point of view, the viewer can see an opening, a passage, perhaps a cave, the suggestion of a woman's body. Captivated by the mysterious power of the clay, Patricia Zieseniss shapes the stoneware in total silence for hours on end, almost in "a struggle", in "a combat", in her own words, "between [her] imagination and the constraining reality of the technique". This clay-like material also requires patience: each work requires several weeks to dry before being fired at 1200°C, patinated and waxed, then reproduced in plaster or bronze editions. "In modelling clay, I pursue an expression that is never equal to my thoughts. It tends to do so without succeeding”. Despite her rich experience and proven know-how, the sculptor remains very humble.

Text Sonia Pavlik