SANELL AGGENBACH

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SANELL AGGENBACH, Nocturne Gardenia

Oil on canvas, 98 x 73 cm

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SANELL AGGENBACH, Nocturne Swimmer

Oil on canvas, 98 x 73 cm

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SANELL AGGENBACH, Atlas II

Oil on canvas, 163 x 123 cm

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SANELL AGGENBACH, Atlas III

Oil on canvas, 136 x 111 cm

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SANELL AGGENBACH, Cumulus

60 x 80 x 90 cm

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SANELL AGGENBACH, Banana

Bronze, 26 x 24 cm

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SANELL AGGENBACH, Madre PietÁ

Bronze, 195 x 117 x 98 cm

Almost certainly the most iconic of Sanell Aggenbach’s work of the last few years is Madre Pietà, Aggenbach’s distinctive re-interpretation of Michelangelo’s marble sculpture. The original is a seminal Renaissance masterpiece, merging classical ideas of beauty, naturalism, youth and maternal affection. Instantly recognisable, it is also the only artwork which Michelangelo ever signed.

Aggenbach’s take is witty and slightly ironic, reimagining the two figures as stuffed rabbits gleaned from her children’s toy box. While there is a comical pop art element to the rabbits’ rounded extremities, the sculpture is also … touching and sympathetic. Aggenbach deftly contrasts a rigid medium saturated with masculine connotations (bronze) with plush figures that are fundamentally feminine and nurturing, accentuating the ideas of maternalism and youth in Michelangelo’s original.

- Tim Leibbrandt

Contact: info@everardlondon.com

_{Photo credit: Michael Hall}

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SANELL AGGENBACH, Natural Selection No. 4

Oil on paper, 44.5 x 44 cm

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SANELL AGGENBACH, Natural Selection no.6

33 x 39 cm

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SANELL AGGENBACH, Natural Selection No.10

Oil on paper, 23.5 x 20 cm

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SANELL AGGENBACH, Natural Selection No. 2

Oil on paper, 29 x 28 cm

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SANELL AGGENBACH, Within / Without

Bronze, 63 x 66 x 63 cm

Sanell Aggenbach’s work is as illusive and ethereal as her subjects. Whether she is delving in satirical cultural exorcisms (Graceland, 2009) or exploring intimate portraiture of archived negatives (Sub Rosa, 2008), Aggenbach’s work retains a strange intimacy, despite the anonymity of her subjects. The emphasis of her work relates to visual trickery and plays on subterranean elements. Her most recent paintings offer an ambiguous open-endedness, employing a restrained palette of corroded process colours.

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