Sandra Shashou, Balancing Act B3 Harlequin 2022
Sculpture
Herend Coffee Pot, Royal Stuart Tea Cups, Royal Albert Porcelain Roses, Jesomite White Base
130 cm H
£12,000 plus any applicable taxes
Balancing Act, is a sculpture conceived in celebration of joy, love, integrity and balance, that continues to work through the complexities of our vulnerability and fragility. Balancing Act moves beyond traditional tropes of framing and hanging, and into a playful sculptural mode. Stacks of purposely selected colourful Vintage and Antique porcelain Tea and Coffee forms predominate. This formal rigour is offset by a lightness and humour that ruptures these codes, and that finds the precious porcelain objects stacked or propped against one another in unpredictable ways.
Shashou updates the use of her signature materials – precious and recombined fine China handpicked by the artist for its singular exquisite delicacy – to develop a new form that, while losing none of their precariousness and intricacy, represent a maturing of her investigations into the resilience of the human spirit. ‘Health, art, work, love, family, friendship, fun, romance, courage, perseverance, finance,
making a difference, giving back... It’s a Balancing Act, can we juggle all!
Collecting is where the work begins, it is an integral part of Shashou’s practice with a
continuous search for her handpicked perfect teapot destined to become part of her
creations. As a medium and as a metaphor, the finest antique tea sets have great resonance. Porcelain has become her signature sculpting material, her trademark. Growing up in Brazil she was surrounded by beautiful household antique ceramics and glass ornaments that belonged to her mother, such as Sevres and Limoges, Herend China, Galle vases, Lalique crystal, she developed an eye and appreciation for these collectable treasures.
Sandra Shashou was born in Rio de Janeiro, and in the year 2000 studied at City & Guilds of London Art School, where she earned her BA (Hons) in Painting. After her graduation she had portraits commissioned by several prominent British intellectuals and politicians, and in the years following her studies largely established her reputation as a painter.
In 2013, her practice took a major turn into sculpture. By investigating how to work with exquisite Vintage and Antique objects that she was so strongly drawn to, she began to produce a series of focused and intensely personal works that reflect the resilience, fragility, and undiminished courage that are the true conditions of love. In recent years Shashou has exhibited in London, Paris, Beirut, Geneva, Gstaad, St Tropez, Dallas, Miami, NYC, and Venice. She has been shown in Art Elysees, Art Beirut, Art Palm Beach, Art Miami, Art Southampton NY, Armoury Antiques NY, Art15 Olympia London, Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips, and has been commissioned for site-specific public sculptures in the US, EU, and UK. Her work has been collected in several important private collections. Shashou lives and works from her studio in Primrose Hill, London
Provenance:
The Artist