Sasha Katz

Sasha Katz is a 3D artist based in Athens (Greece), who uses 3D modelling in her art after a long career in illustration.

She loves women and shows it, but not in the way that art history would have us see it. Despite the society in which we live, Sasha Katz tries to ignore the male gaze altogether and replace it with her own feminine perspective. Instead of looking at Courbet's Le sommeil, she looks at women through the eyes of Tamara de Lempicka, an artist who cried out to the world how sublime women are, and how legitimate their love is, between women. Sasha follows in her footsteps, showing us the range of feelings that women can have for each other, "all sorts of connections, from sisterhood to obsession". We are no longer faced with roommates, nymphs or muses, but with women who simply love each other - with a capital A - and themselves. The artist explores their physical closeness, ranging from platonic contact to very intimate closeness. We see women embracing, kissing and more. Sasha Katz has no taboos in her representations - which sometimes leads her to face a form of censorship - but there is a tenderness, a physical fragility, a sensitivity and a sensuality that lingers in her works. Her compositions are partly inspired by Mannerism and Michelangelo in the twisting and tension of the bodies and in her compositions of curves and tangles.

Even though the artist creates her avatars in 3D, she attaches unlimited importance to reality. She goes against the grain of the false reality created by social networks and advertising. While advertising smoothes the skin, erases imperfections and erases reality, Sasha affirms, defends and admires them. She shows us real women, with shapes, proportions and skin textures that are subject to 'imperfections'. We see women with stretch marks, breasts subject to the earth's gravity, hair, so many things that do not correspond to conventional beauty, but which express the reality of women. This is largely due to her adoration of reality and the variety she draws from the women around her. We see bodies that tend towards a certain degree of reality thanks to the many textures and details, while at the same time asserting themselves as a smoothed-out, unreal avatar.

Sasha Katz presents us with beings - sometimes women, sometimes men, sometimes both - who are close, sometimes very close, but very distant from the viewer, an intentional and considered distance. Imposed distance, unashamed physical intimacy and incongruous framing all place the viewer in a voyeuristic position, giving rise to contradictory feelings.

The artist represents others, but also herself, notably through her alter ego 'Habiba'. The continuity of her art helps her to become aware of her own existence and reality. She puts her thoughts, feelings and emotions into it.