Rémy Samuz

Rémy Samuz: Beninese Wire Sculpture, Transparency and the Human Figure

Rémy Samuz is a Beninese contemporary artist born in 1982 in Cotonou, Benin. Known for his distinctive iron wire weaving, he creates sculptures that combine strength and fragility, density and transparency, monumentality and lightness. His work is centred on the human figure, which he approaches through posture, gesture, volume and emotional presence.

His practice belongs to a wider conversation within contemporary African art, where material innovation becomes a way to rethink the body, memory and social presence. In Samuz’s hands, industrial wire is transformed into figures that appear both solid and immaterial, rooted in the world yet open to air, light and reflection.

View available works by Rémy Samuz ›

Weaving Iron into Human Presence

Rémy Samuz’s sculptures are made through a demanding process of weaving iron wire by hand. This technique allows him to create forms that are structurally precise while remaining visually porous. The figures seem to hold space without closing it, allowing the viewer to see through them, around them and within them.

This balance between material resistance and visual lightness is central to his work. Iron, usually associated with weight and hardness, becomes flexible, rhythmic and almost drawn in space. The sculpture is no longer a closed mass, but a network of lines through which light circulates.

The Human Figure as Gesture and Reflection

Samuz’s work is almost entirely focused on the human figure. His sculptures often appear seated, standing, thinking, moving, rising or turning inward. Their faces are rarely descriptive in a conventional sense, yet their attitudes carry a strong emotional charge.

The body becomes a site of meditation. A bowed head, a lifted arm, a seated posture or an open silhouette can suggest thought, fatigue, resilience, joy or aspiration. Through these gestures, Samuz gives form to ordinary states of being, making the human figure both intimate and universal.

Transparency, Volume and the Poetics of Wire

The visual power of Rémy Samuz’s sculptures lies in their paradoxes. They are made of metal, but they seem light. They occupy space, but they remain transparent. They describe bodies, yet they also resemble drawings suspended in the air.

This open structure gives the works a strong contemplative quality. The viewer is invited to move around them, watching the figure change according to light, angle and distance. In this sense, Samuz’s sculptures are not static objects. They are spatial encounters, activated by the body of the viewer and by the surrounding environment.

From Cotonou to an International Sculptural Language

Born in Cotonou, Rémy Samuz developed an early fascination with making figures before turning fully toward art in the early 2000s. His background in mechanics and metallurgy helped shape a practice in which technical knowledge and poetic intuition are closely connected.

His sculptures address themes of family, freedom, identity, happiness, love, reflection and the simple force of being alive. Rather than offering dramatic narratives, Samuz creates figures that hold a quiet human intensity. Their dignity lies in their openness, their vulnerability and their ability to suggest life through line.

Selected Exhibitions, Art Fairs and Collections

Rémy Samuz’s exhibitions include The Iron Man at OOA Gallery, following an artistic residency with the gallery in 2023. In 2024, his work was presented by OOA Gallery at Art Madrid and followed by a solo show at the French Institute in Cotonou.

His work has also been included in Arts of Benin, Yesterday and Today at Marina Palace in Cotonou, and he took part in the Transfer residency at Fondation Blachère in Apt, France. Earlier presentations include Conférences de Femmes at the French Institute in Cotonou and participation in Dak’Art, the Biennale of Contemporary African Art in Dakar.

Samuz has also been presented at international art fairs, including Art Madrid and 1-54, where his woven iron sculptures have been recognised for their distinctive combination of technical mastery, transparency and human presence.

Available Works

Explore a selection of available works by Rémy Samuz at OOA Gallery, including iron wire sculptures that explore the human figure, gesture, transparency, meditation, movement and the poetic transformation of metal into lightness.