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Patricia Dreyfus

Switzerland

Patricia Dreyfus is a French-Swiss artist who lives between Basel and Berlin.
Her diverse artistic practice includes drawing, sculpture and embroidery.
At Art International Zurich, she presents an exclusive collection of hand-stitched embroideries. These intricate works engage in a thought-provoking dialogue between feminism and surrealism, placing imagination at the heart of her creative expression.

What distinguishes Patricia Dreyfus's work is the seamless blending of different media - drawing, embroidery, sculpture and photography - to create a distinctive universe populated by bodies, heads, faces and imagined narratives. She explains:

« My works, created through various techniques and materials, are inhabited by human forms and symbols. I reflect on themes such as origin, identity, and gender in an increasingly complex and unsettling world. I work in series, viewing each as part of a world deeply rooted in my personal experiences and observations. Through humour and irony, I aim to make these reflections more accessible. »

Born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1951, Patricia Dreyfus was raised in Paris in an environment where the future prospects of young girls appeared to be largely predetermined. At the age of 16, she made the decision to depart from her familial environment, motivated by a profound yearning for autonomy and exploration. She subsequently relocated to England and then to New York, where she engaged in various forms of employment in order to support herself. These experiences had a profound impact on her artistic sensibility and vision.

Returning to France in the early 1970s, she became involved in a committed intellectual circle where feminist struggles had a lasting impact on her perspective. She then undertook training in video editing and directing, after which she made films about artists such as Shirley Goldfarb, Boris Tissot and Roberto Matta. These films were screened alongside their exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris and other distinguished venues.
From 1982 to 1984, she refined her abilities in drawing and sculpture through her studies with Gregory Mazurovsky at the American Center and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Sculpture, particularly in the medium of bronze, emerged as a significant mode of expression. Subsequently, she established her own film production company, which was awarded a prize at the Biarritz Festival in 1987. However, following the tragic loss of her youngest son in 1992, she relocated to Basel, subsequently leaving the film industry to focus exclusively on her artistic endeavours.

Following her relocation to Berlin in 2012, her artistic practice evolved to incorporate new media, with a particular emphasis on textiles, which have since become an integral component of her oeuvre.
Her work has been exhibited in collections across Switzerland, France and Germany.