The artist Sandra Val (Tarragona, 1979) rescues through ceramics a heritage full of formal contrasts and complex aesthetics born between the most industrial Tarragona, the popular ornamentality of Seville and the distinctive centrality of León.
Between monumental landscapes and cultural contrasts, Sandra's artistic language undergoes processes that challenge the possibilities of the craft. Her work, articulated through porcelain, incorporates characteristics of childhood games, industrial forms, and the finishes of Asian decorative arts to create a sensual and playful discourse through a new materiality. Accustomed to seeing these pieces in a glossy sheen, Sandra gives her work a matte aesthetic through combinations of abstract and seemingly simple forms that ultimately create complex formal structures. All the playful scenarios that Sandra explored in her early childhood remain as a testament to who she was.
“Any element that shone, that had a specific function but that I could decontextualize, was already the perfect excuse for it to be a piece of my game.”
His studio – located in the Usera neighborhood (Madrid) It resembles that of a craftsperson more than an artist. Heavy materials, cutting and polishing tools, and references to folk pottery don't hint at Sandra's delicate work. Her porcelain, sensual and provocative, creates scenes that challenge our understanding of and belonging to space.
Sandra's compositions share a methodology similar to that of a language articulated through words. Her installations begin with the union of forms from her everyday environment—both industrial and domestic—which she then models and repeats, thus constructing a visual discourse based on reiteration and the relationship between common elements.
"There is nothing more serious than play, that which allows you to understand, plan and build."
Her exceptional formal, aesthetic and narrative qualities have led the artist to present her work in exhibitions such as The Eroticism of Time at the González Martí National Museum of Ceramics, Three Formal Experiences (2025) at CentroCentro (Cibeles Palace) and in spaces such as the Korean International Ceramics Biennale, ARCOmadrid or the Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art.
Sandra Val's work thus occupies a space between tradition and contemporary expression, reclaiming the importance and heritage of ceramics by making it her central medium of expression. Her pieces engage with our history through the articulation of a unique contemporary language. Without stridency or crude gestures, her sophisticated work invites us to look closely and discover how an ancestral material allows for new interpretations in the present.
