2021 / Antinoüs, Antinoüs

Public sculpture commissioned for the courtyard of the jardin Arnaud Beltrame in Paris
Courtesy @galeriemarguo

Natural stone basin, water, resin, reconstituted stone and marble
170 x 170 x 50 cm

In the center of the courtyard sits the titular sculpture of the installation: a stone basin filled with water, across which two heads -one floating above the meniscus and the other submerged at the basin’s bottom – are reflected in perpetuity, as in a mirror. Water here becomes a material metaphor for the past (Antinoüs also died drowned in the Nile), as it is both tangible but not solid, rippling and warping what we may see within it, while reflecting our views of the present. Underwater lies a reputedly accurate likeness of Antinoüs, based on a bust currently held in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. Above it is the head of the artist’s companion, in reconstructed marble.

For the realization of this work, the artist Laurent Pernot relied on the know-how of the moulders of the Rmn-Grand Palais moulding workshop. https://ateliersartmuseesnationaux.fr/