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Zoë Paul
b.1987
lives and works in Athens, Greece

    selected works
    biography
    texts

selected exhibitions:

Shadows over the bright and darkened lands of the earth


︎︎︎ artists
   
Zoë Paul, Penelope (2021) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable and silver, 200 x 300 x 2 cm Zoë Paul, Η Ζαργάνα μου (2020) | Installation view at The Intermission, Piraeus, Greece Zoë Paul, Untitled (white clay) (2019) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, 240 x 206 x 2 cm Zoë Paul, Untitled (white clay), detail (2019) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, 240 x 206 x 2 cm Zoë Paul, Untitled (terracotta man) (left) and Untitled (terracotta woman) (right) (2019) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, 300 x 120 x 2 cm Zoë Paul, Untitled (embrace) (2019) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, 300 x 188 cm


Zoë Paul, Their bodies, in fragmented in gesture (2019) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, gold, 310 x 240 x 50 cm Zoë Paul, Their bodies, in fragmented in gesture (2019) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, gold, 310 x 240 x 50 cm


Zoë Paul, The Gazers, The Protectors (2019) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, 624 x 270 x 2 cm Zoë Paul, The Land of the Lotus Eaters (2018) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, 850 x 350 x 2 cm | Installation view at Spike Island, Bristol, U.K. Zoë Paul, detail of The Land of the Lotus Eaters (2018) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, 850 x 350 x 2 cm | Installation view at Spike Island, Bristol, U.K. Zoë Paul, Sebil (2018) | Glazed ceramic, concrete, pump, tea pot heads, Penny Royal mint tea, marble | Installation view at Spike Island, Bristol, U.K. Zoë Paul, La Perma Perla Kraal Emporium (2018) | Marble, scaffold planks, concrete, plastic | Installation view at Spike Island, Bristol, U.K. Zoë Paul, Dogs (2018) | Ceramic and stone, 45 x 85 x 45 cm | Installation view at La Loge, Brussels, Belgium Zoë Paul, Wild Wolf, Man and Fish (2018) | Installation view at Hospitalfield, Arbroath, Scotland Zoë Paul, Untitled (2018) | Raw glazed ceramic, wood | Installation view at Hospitalfield, Arbroath, Scotland Zoë Paul, Water Grave (2018) Glazed ceramic, brass, lava, marble, silver, electrics, 150 x 180 x 100 cm | Installation view at SALTS, Basel, Switzerland Zoë Paul, Untitled (Prada) (2017) | Wool and thread on found refrigerator grill, 98 x 75 x 10 cm Zoë Paul, Untitled (Brown-Turquoise) (2017) | Wool and thread on found refrigerator grill, 98 x 106 x 8 cm Zoë Paul, Tea Pot Heads (Rainbow) (2017) | Glazed ceramic, dimensions variable
Portrait of the artist by Marco Argüello | Courtesy of Wallpaper
Photo: Marco Argüello | Courtesy of Wallpaper



Born in London to South African parents and raised between Greece and England, Zoë Paul’s tri-cultural upbringing informs her investigation of the boundaries between the private and public as well as the relationship between artist and community. A sculptor and painter working in a variety of mediums including weaving, ceramics and beaded curtains, Paul revisits tradition via material and process, not to efface history but simply to reexamine it. Her works incorporate styles of picture-making from across history—ancient cave paintings, Byzantine iconography, classical Greek vases, as well as the digital pixels that compose virtual reality. She challenges prevailing ideas about ‘craft’ or femininity by peeling away the layers that time and convention have built. The ideas of labor and craftsmanship thus hold double meaning, pointing towards the process but also carrying a direct connection to matter and the maker.

Zoë Paul (b.1987) completed her MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London in 2012. To date, she has had solo exhibitions in institutions across London, New York, Athens, Brussels, most recently Frieze’s No. 9 Cork Street, London (2022); the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2019 - 2021); Galerie de Sèvres in Paris (2020); The Intermission in Piraeus, Greece (2020); La Loge, Brussels (2019); and Spike Island, Bristol, UK (2018). She has participated in several group shows, including; How Long is Now at Israel Museum (2021); Recyclage/Surcyclage at Fondation Villa Datris in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France (2020); Landlord Colours: On Art, Economy, and Materiality at Cranbrook Art Museum in Detroit, USA (2019) and Infinity Has its Limits at SALTS in Basel (2018).



—



curriculum vitae


1987    Born in London, UK

            Lives and works in Athens, Greece


education

2010-12     MA Sculpture, Royal College of Art, London

2006-09     BA, Sculpture, Camberwell College of Arts


solo exhibitions 

2023    Under Two Suns, Odunpazarı Modern Museum, Eskişehir, Turkey

2023   lO, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2022   Shadows over the bright and darkened lands of the earth, No.9 Cork Street/blank projects, London, UK 

2020    Zoë Paul, Galerie de Sèvres, Paris, France

2020    Full Moon Rising, Barronian/Xippas Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

2020    Η Ζαργάνα μου, The Intermission, Piraeus, Greece

2019    Shadows over the bright and darkened lands of the earth, The Modern Window, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

2019    Despina, La Loge, Brussels, Belgium

2018    Wild Wolf, Man and Fish, Hospitalfield, Arbroath, Scotland, UK

2018    La Perma Perla Kraal Emporium, Spike Island, Bristol, UK

2018    Drawings, Superdeals, Brussels, Belgium

2017   La Perma Perla Kraal Emporium, The Breeder, Athens, Greece

2016    Solitude and Village, The Breeder, Athens, Greece

2015    Solo, The Breeder Playroom, Athens, Greece

2014    A Goat called Hermès, curated by Michelangelo Corsaro, NAM Projects, Milan, Italy

2014    LaTraCom, Ricou Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

2013    Topic, Laure Genillard Gallery, London, UK

2011    Thalasseum, Cole, London, UK

2010    Pass Quietly, Cole, London, UK



group exhibitions

2023    Shades of Daphne, Kasmin Gallery, New York, USA

2022    Epistemologies of the Sun, Rebecca Cahmi Gallery, Athens, Greece

2022    A Midsummer Nights’s Dream, Alkinois, Athens, Greece

2022    The Patriot, O’Flaherty’s, New York, USA

2021    How Long is Now, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

2021    Fragmented Bodies, AlbertzBenda, New York, USA

2021    Voyages Immobiles, La Poste du Louvre, Paris, France

2021    Athens Design Forum, Athens, Greece

2021    Receptacles, Alkinois 6, Athens, Greece

2021    Ceramicarpet, Barronian Xippas, Brussels, Belgium

2021    Recyclage/Surcyclage, Espace Monte Christo, Paris, France

2021    Revenir Pour Voir L’Apres, Le Cyclop, Milly-La-Forêt, France

2021    Human Conditions of Clay, Chapter, Wales, UK

2020    Hydra School Project, Hydra Island, Greece

2020    Recyclage/Surcyclage, Fondation Villa Datris, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France

2020    New Saints, Waldberger Wouters, Brussels, Belgium

2019    Landlord Colours: On Art, Economy, and Materiality, Cranbrook Art Museum, Detroit, USA

2019    Les Chemins du Sud une Théorie du Mineur, Musée régional d’art contemporain Occitanie / Pyrénées - Méditerranée, Serignan, France

2019    In A Waiting Room, curated by Milovan Farronato, Fiorucci Art Trust, London, UK

2019    Museum of Modern Art and Western Antiquities, Section II Department of Carving and Modelling: Form and Volume, curated by Jens Hoffmann, Christina Guerra Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal

2018    Entangled Tales, Rupert, Vilnius, Lithuania

2018    Infinity Has its Limits, SALTS, Basel, Switzerland

2018    Textile Abstraction, Casa Riegner, Bogotá, Colombia

2018    Paroikia, Παροκοía, Company Gallery, New York, USA

2018    Marzana, Yours Again, Hot Wheels Projects, Athens, Greece

2017    An incantation fixed at its culminating point, Inês G. Cardoso, Galeria Boavista, Lisbon, Portugal

2017    Occupations of Uninhabited Space, Gianni Manhattan, Vienna, Austria

2017    NP or the Possibility of Life, curated by locus Athens, Athens, Greece

2017    Grasping a concept is mastering the use of a form, curated by Beatriz Ortega, Casa Ecendida, Madrid, Spain

2016   The Equilibrists, organized by New Museum and DESTE Foundation, curated by Gary Carrion-Murayari and Helga Christoffersen with Massimiliano Gioni, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece

2016    Gossip, Les Urbaines, curated by Elise Lammer, Musée Arlaud, Lausanne, Switzerland

2016    Young, Handsome And Unemployed, Komplot, Brussels, Belgium

2016    Overlay, White Rainbow, London, UK

2016    Woven: Words by Women (and one man), Slowtrack, Madrid, Spain

2016    (Not) Every Thread Ties Down / Your Split Ends Are Showing, DKUK, London, UK

2016    Not Really Really, Frédéric de Goldschmidt Collection, Brussels, Belgium

2015    Unorthodox, The Jewish Museum, New York, USA

2015    Alighiero Boetti – Zoë Paul, ATTIC, Brussels, Belgium

2015    Making of M.S, four to seven gallery, Riga, Latvia

2015    Le Cyclop, Le Bois de Pauvres, Milly-La-Foret, France

2014    Zodiacs for the Blinded Nomad, Oval Space, London, UK

2014    Garden, curated by Katerina Kana, Romantzo Cultural Center, Athens

2014    The terrestrial globe is covered with volcanoes, which serve as it's anus (G.Bataille), curated by Michelangelo Corsaro, Athens, Greece

2014    Making Holes in Water, Totàl, Athens, Greece

2014    What the Snow does in the North the Sand does in the South, NUN, Berlin, Germany

2014    DUST, curated by Jo-ey Tang and Thomas Fougeirol, Paris

2014    aCab, PODIUM Oslo and Kunsthalle Athina, curated by Valentinas Klimasauskas, Oslo, Norway and Athens, Greece

2013    Under Icebergs, Kingsgate Gallery, London, UK

2013    Zoë Paul and Hector Castells Matutano, Cité international des Arts, Paris, France

2013    Sensual Abstraction À La Belle Étoile, ReMap4, Athens, Greece

2013    I've Lost My Marbles, curated by Barbara Sirieix, Totàl, Athens, Greece

2012    Heart of Darkness, Gallerie Carrée, Villa Arson, Nice, France

2012    ZARDOZ, MOT International, London, UK



awards + residencies

2019    Residency at Sévres Cité de la Céramique, Manufacture National de Sèvres, France

2018    Commission for SCRIPT launched at the Summer Festival Open Weekend 2018, Hospitalfield House, Arbroath, Scotland

2015    The Eternal Internet Brotherhood 4, by Angelo Plessas, Malaspina Castle, Fosdinovo, Tuscany, Italy

2013    Cité International des Arts, Paris, France

2012    Villa Arson residency, Nice, France

2012    Cowley Manor and Couttes Art Award and Sculpture Exhibition, UK

2011    Cité International des Arts, Paris, France

2009    Future Map '09, University of the Arts London, UK

— selected essays + reviews

2021 Cleary, M. Zoë Paul creates fragranced art for Diptyque exhibition. Wallpaper [online] (published 17 August 2021).

2020 Artist Zoë Paul’s Needle Fish at The Intermission. Athens Insider [online] (published 16 September 2020).

2019 Salts opens with works by Kasia Fudakowski, Maria Lobodaand, Zoë Paul. ArtDaily [online] (published 20 June 2019).

2019 Bier, A. Zoë Paul in Vitamin T: Threads and Textiles in Contemporary Art. Phaidon Press, UK.

2018 Trigg, David. Zoë Paul’s slow flow: From Permaculture to Primitivism. Frieze [online] (published 22 May 2018).

2018 Herman, L. Timely lessons of the village square-How do people come together these days?. Mousse Magazine (published Fall 2018).

2018 Kenig, A. Zoe Paul, l’artiste contemporaine entre perles et pixel. Mixte Magazine (published November).

2018 Lanta Maestrati, A. Plus de vingt-cinq galeries exposent de la céramique. le journal des arts [online] (published October 19th).

2018 Duvaker, B. Zoe Paul at the Breeder Gallery. Le Paradox [online] (published 11 November 2018).

2018 10 top artists at FIAC Paris. Artnet [online] (published 19 October 2018).

2018 Acal, F. Zoe Paul and Faye Wei Wei at Hot Wheels Projects. Artviewer [online] (published 18 February 2018).

2017 Fedorova, A. In Athens Zoe Paul salvages art from the crisis. Garage [online] (published 8 November 2017).

2017 Thorpe, H. Zoë Paul: La Perma-Perla Kraal Emporium. Studio International [online] (published 19 May 2017).

2016 Teasdale, P. Zoe Paul | Critic’s guide: Athens. frieze [online] (published 7 July 2016).

2016 Drake, C. Zoë Paul at The Breeder. ArtForum (published November 2016).

2016 Spirou, K. Reviewing The Humane Futurism of Zoë Paul. EPITOME.XYZ [online].

2016 Bailey, S. The Equilibrist: a report from Greece. Ocula [online] (published 12 July 2016). 

2016 Trikas-Pandis, H. Zoe Paul: To Combrays kai to Dogville. CNN Greece [online] (published 6 July 2016).

2016 Boucher, B. Whats really cool | 2016 Armory Show. Artnet [online] (published 4 March 2016).

2015 Boucher, B. The Jewish Museum Seeks the Unorthodox in a Group Show that Aims to Be Unruly. Artnet [online] (published 27 November 2015).

2013 Best of 2013. Athinorama [online].

2013 Riff, J. Cronique Curiosité. Athinorama [online] (published November 2013).

2013 Genillard, L. Zoë Paul. N/V PROJECTS [online] (published April 2013).
Zoë Paul, Shadows over the bright and darkened lands of the earth (2022) | installation view, blank projects at No9 Cork Street, London Zoë Paul, Untitled (white clay), detail, (2019) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, 240 x 206 x 2 cm Zoë Paul, Untitled (white clay) (2019) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, 240 x 206 x 2 cm


Zoë Paul, Parody the way they dance, refusing to salute them (2021) | Bronze and silver, Approx. 58 x 40 x 36 cm, Edition of 3 + 1AP Zoë Paul, Parody the way they dance, refusing to salute them (2021) | Bronze and silver, Approx. 58 x 40 x 36 cm, Edition of 3 + 1AP


Zoë Paul, Shadows over the bright and darkened lands of the earth (2022) | installation view, blank projects at No9 Cork Street, London Zoë Paul, Untitled (terracotta woman) (2019) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, 300 x 120 x 2 cm Zoë Paul, Untitled (terracotta woman), detail (2019) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, 300 x 120 x 2 cm Zoë Paul, Untitled (terracotta man) (2019) | Ceramic and porcelain beads, brass, steel cable, silver, 300 x 120 x 2 cm

blank is pleased to announce Shadows over the bright and darkened lands of the earth, a solo exhibition by Zoë Paul at Frieze’s No.9 Cork Street in London.

The artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, Shadows over the bright and darkened lands of the earth is a series of three large-scale bead curtains made from handmade stoneware, terra cotta, and porcelain depicting the forms of three naked figures suspended in motion. From 2020 - 2021, the installation was exhibited at MoMA for The Modern Window series, curated by Jocelyn Miller.

About the works, Miller writes: ‘Zoë Paul’s beaded curtain installations incorporate styles of picture-making from across history—ancient cave paintings, Byzantine iconography, classical Greek vases, as well as the digital pixels that compose virtual reality. Her work is partially inspired by the curtains hung in doorways in the Mediterranean, which allow easy flow between public and private spaces. Ambient light and the motion of passersby make the depicted figures appear to come to life, with a kind of flickering that resembles early film animation. The beads serve a function similar to that of computer pixels, coalescing to produce a triptych of figures—in the artist’s words, a “celebratory, spiritual evocation of bodily representation, focusing on musculature, strength, dynamism, and the spiritually erotic.”’