ARTIST’S PROFILE

Clara Sánchez Sala (Alicante, 1987) has a degree in Fine Arts from the UCLM, Cuenca; She has a master’s degree in Photoespaña in photography theory and artistic projects from the UEM, Madrid and a Master’s in Research in art and creation from the UCM, Madrid. Throughout her career she has participated in numerous national and international exhibitions, including Fundación Juan March: Museum of Abstract Art, Cuenca; Dos de Mayo Art Center, Madrid; Marso Foundation, Mexico City, Mexico; Soares Dos Reis National Museum, Porto; Otazu Foundation, Pamplona; La Laboral, Gijón; EACC, Castellón and CondeDuque Cultural Center, Madrid.

She has recently received Creation Aid from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports; XXIX Circuits of Plastic Arts Award of the Community of Madrid, Injuve Aid for young creation; residency scholarships for young artists abroad from the Community of Madrid. Her work forms part of collections such as DKV, CA2M and Fundación Otazu among others.

“Writing is trying to know what we would write if we wrote” Marguerite Duras, Écrire, Gallimard, 1993 As an echo of the artistic practice of Clara Sánchez Sala, this quote by Marguerite Duras accompanies all of her production to date. If for Duras writing is an intention, for Sánchez, the act of creating is an attempt that takes place in the impossible meeting of the past and the present.

The artist constantly remembers and measures her favorite trips, the time that passes between autobiographical events and history. From this poetics of intimacy, she not only recreates her personal history, but she also plays with temporal imbalances to awaken a feeling of estrangement from her personal environment.

Clara’s works are indications that point to the heuristic effect of distance. The artist thus places the viewer in the situation of the archaeologist, seeing the pieces as riddles that she cannot directly identify. Sánchez regularly uses this process of distancing to question what is seen and what is known, and thus underline the idea of impermanence and incompleteness.

RESIDENCY GOALS :

In Clara’s words… 

“For several months now, I have been immersed in an investigation about the aroma of my workplace, which is impregnated with odorous substances belonging to the materials I handle.

Smells gently detonate in our memory like mines, hidden under the grass of many years and experiences. But just trip over an invisible scent wire, and the memories explode instantly. If the air in my studio in Madrid is impregnated with odorous substances belonging to the materials I handle, the air in my work space in summer, located in my mother’s house, in the Aitana mountains (Alicante), is loaded with a different perfume. , a sweet, humid, earthy, fruity, country aroma, but all these words do nothing more than classify without describing, like all smells, the one in my summer studio is impossible to describe, but constantly remembered.

To formalize this research, I resorted to collecting samples of the materials that have the most olfactory presence in the space. In the case of my studio in Madrid, they were varnishes, pigments, glues, etc. and in the case of my atelier in Alicante, they were plants. , flowers and leaves which he wrapped in white cotton fabrics treated with a substance that allows the smell of pressed materials to be retained. After a week, I continued to hammer the fabric with the plants so that the natural pigments themselves dyed the fabric, then I let it dry and fixed the pigment. The result is a fabric with spots of various random colors that gives off an aroma that immediately takes me to the mountains).

Two of these pieces were exhibited in the exhibition Noli me tangere, at the Sator gallery in Paris in October 2022, but my intention, as I have previously expressed, is to continue expanding the proposal and investigate new paths of formalization.

The Manoir de la Moissie creative residence thus becomes an important place to meet the needs of the project, since it has a garden with several trees and plants that undoubtedly permeate the air of the artistic residences, accompanying the residents in the production of its different pieces.

For all these reasons, I would like to be able to participate in the residency program with the intention of continuing to develop this research in which I am currently immersed and generate new textile pieces with the aroma of Manoir de la Moissie.