Cajsa von Zeipel

Cajsa von Zeipel is a sculptor whose work delves into identity, gender, queerness and normativity. She has become known for her white, large-scale plaster sculptures but in her recent works she has left the reference to classical sculpture and developed an even more complex technique. von Zeipel constructs her female figures in pastel coloured silicone in an evocation of sci-fi and fantasy aesthetics. The silicone – a material that is common in implants, sex toys, and kitchen equipment – brings her sculptures to life. Beneath the silicone there are parts of mannequins, objects that are typically used to construct desire in capitalist spaces. Sawing off limbs and reconnecting disparate pieces, von Zeipel destroys their normative bodies; rather than statically holding clothes, these reconfigured forms take on uncanny movements. Limbs shake, fingers bend, skin wrinkles, and mouths fall in a manner that mimics our own physicality.

Cajsa von Zeipel’s technical prowess is evident in these extra-terrestrial sculptures. As opposed to her earlier tall, white sculptures in plaster and jesmonite the new ones are messy and almost grotesque. They seem to float beyond their human boundaries becoming futuristic bodies merging the human body with all kinds of stuff becoming a new kind of species. An assertion of femme visibility and sex positive provocation, von Zeipel's works celebrate a world of their own creation. 

Cajsa von Zeipel was born 1983 in Gothenburg, Sweden and lives and works in New York. She received her MFA from the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, Sweden in 2010.  Recent institutional exhibitions include Rubell Museum, Miami and Washington DC, USA (2021-2022); Museum of Sex, New York, USA (2022); ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark (2021); ECLIPSE, 7th Athens Biennale, Greece (2021); Eskilstuna Konstmuseum, Eskilstuna, Sweden (2021); Baroque Topologies, KV Leipzig, Germany (2020); Journey Through a Body, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany (2020) and Art of Sport, Copenhagen Contemporary, Denmark (2020). Her work is in numerous public and private collections such as the Onassis Foundation, Rubell Foundation, Museum of Modern Art Warsaw, Faurschou Collection, 21C Museum, Moderna Museet, Tank Shanghai, Foundation Mallorca, Borås Museum of Arts, Eskilstuna Museum of Art, Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gävleborg County Museum and Västerås Museum of Art.

In 2015, a monograph of her work, Pro Anatomy, was published by Capricious Publishing, New York.