Paloma Varga Weisz (b. 1966, Mannheim, Germany) lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. Her practice employs sculpture, watercolor and drawing to explore subjects such as memory, mortality, metamorphosis, myths and folklore.

The artist creates her own iconography by combining references to psychoanalysis with elements of Italian and German Renaissance and Gothic art. Her works lead the viewer into a contemplative observation, poised between dream and reality, characterized both by playful surrealism and emotional naiveté. Woodcarving has formed a central aspect of Paloma Varga Weisz’s work since the beginning of her career.

She trained as a woodcarver in Bavaria from 1987-2000, and has continued to utilize and develop this technique, sourcing inspiration from its rich iconographic history. She also attended the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in the 1990s. Varga Weisz’s hybrid archetypal creatures evoke fairy tales and grotesque scenery displaying her personal subconscious symbolism and collective motifs.

Major solo exhibitions include Skulpturenhalle, Thomas Schütte Foundation, Holzheim, Germany; Kabinettstück, Fürstenberg Zeitgen.ssisch, Donaueschingen, Germany; curated by Moritz Wesseler; Glory Hole, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria; Root of a Dream, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy; Krummer Hund, Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven, Germany, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany (with Rosemary Trockel) and Spirits of My Flesh, Chapter, Cardiff , United Kingdom among other. Selected group shows include Lucas Cranach the Elder, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany; The Human Factor, Hayward Gallery, London; Sculptures from the Art Academy Düsseldorf since 1945, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein- Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany, Exquisite Corpses: Drawing and Disfi guration, Museum of Modern Art, New York.