The work of German artist Paloma Varga Weisz (Düsseldorf, 1966) is closely tied to the medium of sculpture. Trained in traditional woodcarving, prior to her studies at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, wood and limewood in particular, have become the main materials used for her sculptures. Inspired by German folklore, Christian iconography, mythology, references from art-history and personal memory, the works of Varga Wiesz frequently echo the uncanny nature of a dream, where reality and fiction intertwine, shaping a world of their own. Composed of two level glass tables, one on top of the other, in the lower one we find a figure of a “sleeping” boy. Carved in wood, and reminiscent of the artist's own face, a reoccurring element, characteristic to many of her gender-ambiguous sculptures, the figure is in fact inspired by observing her sleeping son. On top of the second table and above the sleeping body, we see a series of glass beakers and other chemical instruments. The medical nature of the environment enhances the uncanny feel of sculpture.

The warm surface of wood finds its resemblance here with the human body, which occupies a central position in the practice of the artist. Despite its formal similarities with the dead body of Christ, - Still Life
takes us back into the childhood of the artist, whose memories of hiding under a glass table, while observing her mother, (who invested herself in wine production and alchemy) sampling wine, became a point of departure for the piece. The layering of narratives and references here, result in a unique tension between the stillness of what is being represented and the unsettling tension its reading generates. A reading, which is in fact, much more personal, and that can also, be perceived as a metaphorical act of liberating the unconscious, unveiling the forgotten, the suppressed and the imaginary, previously concealed by the mind.