Originally trained as a biologist, Olivier de Sagazan turned to painting and sculpture in 1987, and has pursued this practice ever since. He has developed a hybrid artistic language combining painting, sculpture and performance, creating a body of work in which art and life are inseparable.

Out of his fascination with bringing matter to life came the idea of covering his own body in clay in order to observe the “object” that emerged. This experiment led, in 1998, to the creation of the solo piece Transfiguration. Performed more than 400 times around the world, this work follows a painter-sculptor obsessed with the idea of bringing his work to life and who, in a desperate gesture, throws his own body into the fray in an attempt to become a living sculpture. The body becomes a canvas, transformed through successive layers of clay; the painter becomes a dancer. Through these troubling and deeply moving disfigurements, we witness the frantic attempt of a humanity in search of its true face.