Love Is A Verb Maya & Sofia Sculpture by Tatiana Brodatch

Love Is A Verb is an exhibition before it is a collection: in 2018, Tatiana Brodatch installed thirty-five modeling clay figurines on a bed for Seletti, accompanied by a stop-motion projection, first in Milan and then in Paris. The produced pieces are based on these models and retain their apparent craftsmanship: the surface remains irregular, the heads are left featureless, and it is the posture of the bodies that carries the entire scene. Seletti describes the entire series as resin sculptures, a material that allows for casting the modeling without having to smooth it out. Most of the references are sold in pairs: what you are buying is not a figurine, but a situation: two people carrying, interlocking with, or turning away from each other, hence the title, love taken as a verb rather than a state. The formats range from a few centimeters high to about thirty centimeters long, making them suitable for a shelf, console, or desk rather than a busy coffee table: these are objects meant to be viewed up close. The exact dimensions of each scene are listed in the specifications below, reference by reference, as they vary significantly from one piece to another.

Why these featureless faces

The absence of faces is not a manufacturing shortcut but the very subject of the work. Seletti provides this formula on its product sheets: "featureless faces, with the most penetrating gazes," where the doubts and hesitations inherent to human nature become tangible through the mere contour of the body. In concrete terms, nothing guides the viewer toward an identity: it is the position of the two bodies that tells the story, and everyone projects their own meaning onto it. This is also what allows these pieces to age without becoming dated.