Overview

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.

Exhibitions
Installation shots
Works
  • Canon (Goldie)
    Canon (Goldie)
  • Gay Milk
    Gay Milk
  • Mommy Crane
    Mommy Crane
  • She thought she could so she did
    She thought she could so she did
  • X Plus X Equals x
    X Plus X Equals x
  • Aqua Aura
    Aqua Aura
  • I Brake For Trees
    I Brake For Trees
  • Catch and Kill
    Catch and Kill
  • International Negotiations
    International Negotiations
  • A girl is a gun
    A girl is a gun
  • Mademoiselle, 35
    Mademoiselle, 35
  • Constitutional. Congressional. Containerboard.
    Constitutional. Congressional. Containerboard.
  • I'm taking the kids
    I'm taking the kids
  • Xena
    Xena
  • Tangled Peace
    Tangled Peace
  • Area
    Area
  • Trading at the corner of canal
    Trading at the corner of canal
  • Stranger at your own party
    Stranger at your own party
  • Public Display of Emotions
    Public Display of Emotions
  • Let them eat cake
    Let them eat cake
  • Ecstasy
    Ecstasy
  • Jetlag
    Jetlag
  • Blind-mans Bluff
    Blind-mans Bluff
  • Passing Through Kicking Legs
    Passing Through Kicking Legs
  • The Zoo Collective Crane
    The Zoo Collective Crane
  • Bed Scene
    Bed Scene
  • Tjejspyan
    Tjejspyan
  • Installation view, Alternative Milk, Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Paris, 2022
    Installation view, Alternative Milk, Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Paris, 2022
Press
Publications
Events
Art Fairs