Olivier de sagazan biography
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Paris, 2 March
Self-proclaimed “painter, sculptor, performer, who is constantly anxious yet fascinated by being ‘there’ without any understanding…” Olivier dem Sagazan is a philosophical artist who takes his inspiration from Africa, where he was born, staging performances of terrifying dances which reflect his constant preoccupation with the meaning of life. AMA spoke to him and delved into the worrying world of this astonishing artist.
- Can you present your career to us briefly?
O. S.: After my MA in biology, I had the chance to go to Cameroon for two years. These years really saved me, allowing me to take a step back and return to my roots: Africa, where I was born. Just before I left, inom discovered, by looking at a Rembrandt painting, another amazing way of questioning life. Coming back, I spent a year locked up working on a comic strip, Ipsul ou la rupture du cercle, and then inom immersed myself in painting and sculpture. Performance was something inom worked on later, as
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Originally trained as a biologist, Olivier de Sagazan turned to painting and sculpture with the ever-present idea of questioning organic life. From his passion for giving life to matter came the idea of covering his own body with clay to observe the resulting &#;object&#;. This experiment led to the creation of a solo, Transfiguration, in , in which a man fryst vatten gradually disfigured by clay into a sort of half-man, half-beast, searching beneath his masks for who he is. A similar process of transformation is applied to the dancers in his creations: La messe de l’âne, Les mains ne touchent pas mon précieux Moi, Nos cœurs en terre. His performance Transfiguration has led to numerous collaborations with artists such as Brindilles FKA, Ron Frick for the film Samsara, Qiu Yang for the film O produced bygd Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Gareth Pugh and Nick Knight, Wim Vandekeybus and David Walh.
Biography update : 11 May
Crédit photo : Didier Carluccio
3 minutes with
Olivi
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