Sandra Zeenni
(1970-)

Sandra Zeenni, artist and sculpteur, lives and works in Paris.

Sandra Zeenni’s latest sculptures dialogue with the expressionist work of Auguste Rodin. They give rise to organic forms often deserotized that are articulated and linked like mutant creatures generated by a rhizomic growth. They play on the surprise effect produced by the succession of discordant points of view. The discrepancy between forms (anfractuosities, bumps, cavities…) and a mastered material accentuates these anomalies and the fantastic climate of her pieces.

Her pieces are presented in several public collections in France and Japan.
Her last participations in public exhibitions were held in 2022 at the Palais Jacques Coeur in Bourges, in 2020 in the Museums of Bourges and Vierzon, in 2019 at the Hotel Gouïn in Tours, as part of the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci, in 2015 at the Museum of Sarreguemines and in 2014 at the National Museum Adrien Dubouché, in Limoges and at the Villa Empain (Boghossian Foundation) in Brussels, Belgium.

In 2022, the Liz O’Brien Gallery in New York presents her sculptures at the Armory Salon Art & Design. The Capazza gallery exhibits her sculptures, including the bronze Myn, at Antica Namur in Belgium, after her participation in the group exhibition “Terra Incognita”.

In 2020, as part of the Contemporary Art tour “Georges Jeanclos – Auguste Rodin, modelling the living”, organized by the Capazza Gallery, in partnership with the Rodin Museum, her sculptures are exhibited in Nançay and Azay-le-Rideau.

In 2016, a solo exhibition is dedicated to her by the Capazza Gallery. In 2017 and 2018, it is at the Park Avenue Armory that the Liz O’Brien Gallery shows her sculptures, in New York.

In 2015, her works were presented at Collect International Art Fair, at the Saatchi Gallery in London.

Her works are presented in Paris at the 1831 Gallery.

Breath
Organic, abstract, human…. Sandra Zeenni’s collection entitled « Lage », encourages the viewer to consider works from a « one on one » standpoint. Emerging from these suggestive fragments are skulls, heads, backs, back bones, which are more or less distinguishable; diverted or interrupted, hips, bottoms, busts, and soft surfaces that are sensual and feminine.
Here, the orifices and cavities which are present in her sculptures are like mouths crying out, challenging the fleeting impression of fullness. « Without these gaps, these openings, there would be no breath; the form suffocates and myself with it ». Sandra Zeenni speaks here of turmoil.
Whether upright or horizontal, in relaxed poses or doubled up, these bodies seem to be on the verge of uncontrollable movement, possessed by inner silent, almost threatening forces. The inherent strength of Sandra Zeenni’s work stems from, and is enhanced by, the ambiguity denoted by the feeling of discomfort and confusion that emanate from masculine, androgynous and feminine angles intermingling as part of the same piece. A body that compels.

Her hybrid works seem to encapsulate layers of memory, as if an accident has altered the matter, dissuading the onlooker from a mere cursory assessment. Words and labels fail to epitomize these mutant creatures, as they appear to be more the product of a fictional world. The sculptures thus invite another, more tactile approach in the wake of the “body on body” representation, implemented in the creative process.

Among the white pieces there are some which have a more ethereal air to them; they are elevated to another status. They are less rugged and fill us with a feeling of well-being and reassurance with their soft voluptuousness. Others, such as the works entitled « Figure » and « Dada » have been stripped of their veneer. They are raw and earthy in feel and yet the whiteness shines through.

The black pieces, on the other hand, are filled with tense energy set off by space and light; the exuberant enamelled paintbrush applications play with light and lend the sculptures a painterly feel. The black pieces become greyish brown, green, purple or mauve and alternate between appearing shiny or matte, depending on the angle from which they are viewed from and on the intensity of the exhibition light.

These sculptures challenge our beliefs in a reality that is straightforward, stable, or one based on external appearance.

Xavier de Rubercy