Lionel Sabatté French, 1975

Lionel Sabatté’s work revolves around the notion of the living, often paying tribute to its temporary state. From the residual materials he uses, he brings to life a bestiary made up of hybrid creatures such as unicorns made of concrete, fishes from the abyssal depths made from iron and coins, butterflies repaired with pieces of dead skin, wolves and swans in dust and, and human silhouettes derived from scraps of concrete.

His sculptures hold forms of viscous concrete units resembling decaying and melting animal remains. His distinctive sculpting style allows for a form of spatial awareness with the search for representation in each piece. Take for example, his sculpted backs of herbivores moulded together from tea and cement. His paintings on the other hand use gestural abstraction to transform the manifestations of his imagination into vivacious paintings. Sabatté believes his paintings give the viewer access to other worlds, showing layers upon layers of depth and allow us, temporarily, to peer into his imagination.

 

Lionel Sabatté became known for La Meute, a work exhibited in 2011 at the Garden of plants in Paris. This work represents a pack of wolves made from dust. The dust, which is found in many of his sculptures and drawings, is not the only residual material that the artist uses. The 1 cent euro, the fragments of dead skin and nail clippings, the stem trees or burnt woods are just a few elements that constitute to his grotesque repertoire of materials.

Graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, 2003, Sabatté’s works have been shown at the National Museum of Modern Art, Musée des Arts et Métiers and Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in France. His works have also been exhibited in Galleries across Europe and Asia. Lionel Sabatté is the Winner of the 2019 Foundation Del Duca Award, 2018 Patio Maison Rouge Award and 2017 Drawing Now Award.