Saskia Pfaeltzer (1955) is an artist pur sang. Not a day goes by that she doesn’t work. She gets her inspiration from people, animals and things around her. Her sharp observations, she effortlessly expresses in diverse materials, such as bronze, clay, plaster, wax, epoxy resin and styrofoam. She met the gallery owners in Sanbao/Jingdezhen, where Pfaeltzer makes her porcelain figures. Her Chinese collection in characterized by animal figures: tigers, apes, wolves and even Gengis Kahn on horseback.
She works in very different formats: from huge, monumental bronze ‘water-bird and men’ who got a place in the public space, to intimate, ten inches high figurines of horses and dancers. In her outdoor studio, near the Belgian Mol, chops Pfaeltzer images from Belgian Bluestone.
In her studio in Amsterdam she draws and paints. Additionally, Pfaeltzer will be staying two months annually in China. In the famous porcelain city Jingdezhen, she experiments with local porcelain and new techniques and she works with local artisans.
The combination of Saskia Pfaeltzer’s surefire approach, her mastery of many techniques and choice for a wide range of subjects has led to a large and versatile body of work. Figurative art is the common thread in her oeuvre. Her images, mostly depictions of human and animal figures, are recognizable and communicate with the audience. They look realistic, but are not reality modeled. The images are pure fantasy and often contain references to ancient civilizations – a bird-headed men on a sheep’s body, with a vase as base and women who wear entire cities on their heads. The images are deliberately not too smooth finished, which gives a lively surface and the material speaks for it selves.
Saskia Pfaeltzer studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam where she focused on sculpture and monumental painting. Since the 1990s, Pfaeltzer stayed for fifteen years alternately in the Netherlands and on the island of Sint Maarten (Netherlands Antilles). In 2010 her ways led to China, which turned into an annually a work stay. Pfaeltzer has had many exhibitions at home and abroad and her work – free or in command – is located in Museum, private and corporate collections worldwide.
