Esther SHERROW

Esther Sherrow is an American artist based in Paris. Born and raised in Connecticut, she attended Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where she extensively studied Fine Arts, exploring various artistic techniques and mediums. After graduating in 1991, she flew to London and has been travelling through Europe ever since, immersing herself in its diverse art scenes. From 1992 to 1993, after exploring the rich cultures and histories further, she settled in Prague to pursue her artistic interests more deeply. She then relocated to Paris, a vibrant city where she currently lives and creates art reflecting her experiences and growth. Although she focused on oil painting at school, she adapted her approach to something more fluid and dynamic while living a nomadic lifestyle in Europe. She now places greater emphasis on collage and drawing, creating site-specific sculptures that raise questions and provoke thought.

After hitchhiked across Britain, France and Germany, she realised that being confined to a two-dimensional rectangle was not for her; she wanted to experience her surroundings fully. However, when she settled in a more sedentary location for eight transformative months in a picturesque villa in the Czech Republic, she began creating larger sculptures from a variety of materials, such as wood, textiles, and even dried fruit. She drew inspiration from her surroundings for these pieces. A trip to the Venice Biennale in late 1993, followed by journey across Italy's captivating landscapes, was the inspiration for her decision to move back west, reflecting as it does her constant search for new horizons in her art. In 1994, she left Prague for Paris, a city teeming with artistic energy. She immersed herself in sculpture, creating intricate threaded spider's webs, suspended paper chains, wire DNA links, cloth blocks, enlarged cocoons, dangling cloth sausages, and hair and wax creatures, among many other whimsical and thought-provoking pieces. Everywhere she looked, she saw knots and chains interconnecting people, places and experiences. During this prolific period, she embarked on a significant journey, hitchhiking to Portugal to witness the breathtaking cliffs of the Algarve. There, she discovered an extraordinary boulder field outside Madrid that continues to influence her work to this day.

Like the awe-inspiring stalactite caves she visited in southern France, which represent the aesthetic personification of time and hold an important place in her work. In 2001, she had her first child, an event that transformed her life profoundly. When she returned to the studio in early 2002, having taken some time to embrace motherhood, she began a captivating series of drawings focusing on still lifes of cloth sculptures bundled in mesmerising watercolour jelly. These pieces captured light and colour in an enchanting and reflective way. This was followed by a series of larger pieces on paper in 2004 that erupted and spewed intestinal DNA innards across the surface, creating a visceral connection to themes of life and existence. More visual knots and chains representing the interconnection of people, places, ideas and time emerged, creating a visual representation of the complex tapestry of life and our relationships. The visual vocabulary that she began developing in 2004 is one that she continues to explore and use within two-dimensional frameworks, evolving continuously with each brushstroke and sculptural form.