Sabeth Holland, born in 1959 in the Rhine Valley, is an established Swiss artists. After creating several projects on buildings, including the roundabout in Wittenbach, St. Gallen, Sabeth Holland has her first exhibition in 1991 in “Galerie vor der Klostermauer”, St. Gallen; during the time, she showed works in gouache on paper. With her continuous development in art, Sabeth now works with a multitude of medias on her paintings and sculptures, and installation works; where she kept painting the center of her art. Sabeth’s creativeness is expressed with vibrant colours and energy, her joyous personality together with the use of multitude of medias on her paintings, sculptures and installations works… brings out the positive sensations and emotions among people ! Her signature and unique works, full of vibrant colours, combined with her many talents and skills have led to her international success.
Awards
Winner "Blauorange" Coburg Art Society - Nominee "ZVAB Phoenix" - "Top 500 Art Websites" New York Art Magazine
2007 Award Winner «Blauorange» Art Society Coburg Germany. 2008 Finalist “ZVAB Phoenix”.
Sabeth Holland about her paintings & sculptures:
The Magic Spark
I see the world as a colourful universe, determined by the invisible chemistry of emotions and relationships. My paintings, sculptures and installations illustrate my very personal view. I am fascinated with pure gold as a means to express happiness. For me there is no difference between my painting and sculpting. It is all very sensual, very authentic.
Inspiration and Process
A sensual conception starts the process. To me this is like collecting stories with lots of illustrations. I love the possibility to interchange experience and fantasies. With my work I want to evoke feelings. I try to depict the invisible, as quoted in Saint-Exupéry’s “Little Prince”, by the use of generally understandable colour contrasts, shapes and symbols. All my works transport a positive message.
I find it important to visualise the painting or sculpture before I start. I write notes, put down word sketches, make drawings and studies and create models or concepts. For my paintings I mainly work with oils, pigments and pure gold and apply them in many different layers on canvas, to slowly achieve the composition I have in mind. I often use my finger tips and palms to place the colours, sometimes I work with a variety of instruments and tools; brushes or sponges, for example. Once the layers of oils get thick I love carving into them with twigs, forks, my finger nails. I use pigments to either make the shades more intense or to create a velvety effect. In a final process I apply the pure gold and occasionally use pastels or graphite to outline important shapes. All my works take a lot of time to be developed, anything from a few weeks to a few months. By the time I decide to finish them, I am very attached to them and know them really well.
When I form my sculptures, I use polyurethane for the core. This can be shaped by cutting, brushing and polishing with all sorts of tools. Once I finish the form it gets laminated with fibre glass. After applying a bridge coat or priming, I can work on the colourful surface. As I have been a painter since 1989, this is always a very fulfilling process to me. For optimal weather protection I use acrylics in layers. Again I apply the pure gold in a finishing phase. Finally a UV- protection and a high gloss lacquer, as used for cars, gets spray on and heated. This creates a surface like enamel. Throughout the entire development of the sculpture I think about its installation and work with specialist to achieve highest quality standards.