Anna-Bella Papp’s small-scale sculptures take the form of handmade, typically unglazed clay tablets which rest on simple horizontal surfaces. Subtly detailed with carved negative spaces, inscriptions, debossing and relief work, they showcase clay unadorned and in a state of relative modesty, recalling its importance as an artistic and functional medium. Within the parameters of her chosen format, Papp pushes her material to its limits, exploring its potential as a sculptural medium as well as one conducive to image-making. In certain works, geometric forms and patterns curl or twist into one another; in others, the artist’s touch is nearly imperceptible. In other examples, Papp slips into figuration by treating the clay to invoke something she might have observed: the wet patina of fallen snow, the birds-eye view of a garden envisaged on the artist’s ancestral land, or the suggestion of Michaelangelo’s and Verrocchio’s renditions of David coming together with two ring-like shapes. As such, her works dip between representation and abstraction, each series exploring a different set of ideas through various techniques of sculpting and mark-making, all the while seemingly aware of and contained within the regular confines of their objecthood.

Anna-Bella Papp was born in 1988 in Chisineu-Cris, Romania, and lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She studied at the University of Art and Design, Cluj, Romania (2007-2010); De Ateliers, Amsterdam (2011-2013) and the Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam (2019-21). Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Diez Gallery, Amsterdam (2024); Modern Art, London (2019); Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro, Milan (2017); De Ateliers, Amsterdam (2016); Bergen Kunsthall (2015); and the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2014). She has participated in recent group exhibitions at Stevenson, Amsterdam (2024); Modern Art, London (2021); the 34th Bienal de São Paulo (2021); The Met Breuer, New York (2019); Casey Kaplan, New York (2015); and Fondazione Memmo, Rome (2015). Her sculptures are held in collections including the Dallas Museum of Art; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris/San Francisco; Lafayette Anticipations, Paris; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.