Originally trained as a biologist, Olivier de Sagazan turned to painting and sculpting with the ever-present idea of questioning organic life. From his passion to give life to matter came the idea for him to cover his own body with clay in order to observe the resulting “object”. This experiment gave rise to the creation of a solo, “Transfiguration”, in 1998, (played for over 350 times) in which we see a man gradually disfiguring himself with clay into a kind of half-man, half-beast searching beneath his masks for who he is, who is the puppeteer.

In a gesture of desperation he sculpts clay onto his head, burying himself in the material, eradicating his identity and becoming a living work of art. Yet the material blinds him and he is forced to look inward, into the very depths of himself. In a fascinating performance Sagazan shifts identities on stage, from man to animal and from animal to various hybrid creatures. He pierces, obliterates and unravels the layers on his face in a frenzied search for new essence and form. This idea is reflected in the painting, photos and sculptures, presented at the exhibition.