Video

Fracture and Fragment

"Every act of creation is first an act of destruction." Pablo Picasso

Sandra Shashou’s new body of work, comprising of arrangements of smashed fragments of bone china tea sets, oscillates between modalities of dissolution and reformulation, order and rupture, and historical eras.

Her source material is the bone china produced by Europe’s finest porcelain manufacturers, as the titles of her works indicate – Hamilton, Argyle, Tuscan, Royal Albert, Wedgwood, Limoges, Meito hand-painted and Cobalt – and collected by her from dealers and flea markets. The designs range across centuries and topographies: in one work the lemons and blues of Art Deco, in another the crimson of Edwardian and Victorian designs, and in a third the blue tracery of Chinoiserie.

Shashou brings these tea sets back to her studio and using a small hammer she shatters, punctures, chips and fragments. And yet the shapes of the original crockery are somehow preserved and repurposed in her intricate constructions. The curves of the broken tea sets undulate across simple rectangular surfaces, or swirl around rotundas with a baroque flamboyance. In some the pieces lock tightly together as if part of some giant Cubist puzzle, in other shards seem to be caught in the freeze frame of a constructivist explosion. Her chromatically rich, harmonious works match crimsons, mustard yellows and pinks, or mauve, turquoise and blue. Set in a gold or white ground, Shashou’s fragments unfold like Jackson Pollock’s all-over paintings – only shattered, not splattered.

Shashou has found inspiration in the Japanese art of Kintsugi, in which broken bowls were repaired with beautiful golden joins, so fashionable in the 17th century, that people were accused of deliberately smashing valuable pottery so it could be remade in this manner.

Some may read a social comment in her work, a playful rupturing of bourgeois values. The order and tranquillity of a daily routine, with its echoes of Victorian Britain, Alice in Wonderland and social conformity, tea-time, has been literally shattered.

Shashou herself prefers to foreground the emotional and biographical metaphors embedded in the work. Smashing crockery is, after all, a time-honoured feature of the lovers’ row. “Breakage and fractures are part of the chance and fate of human life, part of our personal history,” she says, "I embrace vulnerability and fragility. In truth that is how we reveal ourselves and really connect.” When Shashou has looked back on love that has disintegrated, and reflected on the times when she has felt ‘shattered’, she has realised that the pieces have rearranged themselves in a new harmonious order. “They fitted together but not they did before."

Meeting collector Robert Bensoussan

Meeting collector Robert Bensoussan

I was so thrilled to have met collector Robert Bensoussan. He came to my studio in 2011, he loved the large White oil painting from my Torn series which he has displayed in his magnificent CHIC Paris home amongst art works by Louise Bourgeois.

read more
Authentic Wow Feature

Authentic Wow Feature

Sandra Shashou – UK-based, Brazilian multimedia artist Sandra’s first exhibitions as an artist took place in São Paulo, in the building she grew up in with her parents. There, in the lobby of the multi-storey structure, she would present and share her work with all...

read more
Barnebys.es

Barnebys.es

Las esculturas de la artista contemporánea Sandra Shashou, hechas de fragmentos de porcelana, evocan la fragilidad de los sentimientos, la valentía y la prueba de renovación después de la devastación. En la imagen I have a little crush! de 2018.

read more
Bel-Air Fine Art London

Bel-Air Fine Art London

On the 24th of April 2019 Bel-Air Fine Art London is delighted to host a talk / tour led by the artist herself presented from 4 to 7 pm here at our Mayfair gallery. Drinks will be served. Shashou is excited to personally welcome you and discuss the subtleties and...

read more
Bel-Air Fine Art London

Bel-Air Fine Art London

On the 11th of April 2019 Bel-Air Fine Art London is excited to unveil a new body of work by Sandra Shashou in her upcoming exhibition Balancing Act, showcasing a series of sculptures conceived in celebration of joy, integrity and balance, that continue to work...

read more
Artiq

Artiq

Artist of the Month: Sandra Shashou We are delighted to introduce February’s Artist of the Month, Sandra Shashou. Sandra Shashou is a UK-based, Brazilian multimedia artist who has a diverse practice of sculpture, photography and painting. View the full Press article...

read more
I LOBO YOU

I LOBO YOU

Sandra Shashou ceramic art sculptures Sandra Shashou is a very creative artist that puts together in an unusual way ceramic pieces in golden, black and other attractive colors combination creating this way contemporary sculptures that we wouldn’t imagine to create...

read more
Cross Connect Magazine

Cross Connect Magazine

London-based artist Sandra Shashou, who primarily works in abstract painting and collage, ventures away from her usual mediums in her series, Broken, in which she creates sculptures from fine bone china, which she finds in markets and and breaks into pieces before...

read more
London Calling

London Calling

Sandra Shashou ‘Broken Reborn’ “I had no idea I would end up doing this crazy thing”, she laughs. The Brazilian artist based in Primrose Hill did her degree in painting and actually used to be a successful portrait artist who made a name for herself by aiming to...

read more
Babou Gallery

Babou Gallery

Women's History Month at Babou Gallery Please visit our newly expanded gallery where we will be celebrating Women's History Month, featuring a selection of contemporary female artists working across diverse mediums. Artists represented include painters Irina...

read more
On Art and Aesthetics

On Art and Aesthetics

REBUILDING AFTER DEVASTATION: SANDRA SHASHOU’S “BROKEN” London-based Brazilian artist Sandra Shashou has come up with a fascinating series called “Broken” that is all about the act of “rebuilding after devastation”. The sculptures are made up of smashed fragments of...

read more
Architerior

Architerior

SANDRA SHASHOU: I ALWAYS KNEW Architerior talked to Sandra Shashou who has made an interesting use of porcelain figurines and cups. View the full Press article here.https://architerior.co/sandrashashou/

read more
Made in Shoreditch

Made in Shoreditch

FROM PORTRAITS TO SCULPTURES, THE ARTISTIC DEPTH OF SANDRA SHASHOU Painter and sculptor Sandra Shashou works with different elements to create new compositions for each of her pieces. In her oil-based paintings, she has accumulated newspaper clippings of well-known...

read more
Open chat
Need Help?
Hello,
Can we help you?