Nathalie Du Pasquier’s ode to the humble brick
A site-specific installation at ceramic brand Mutina’s Italian HQ has stacks of appeal

Design lost its sense of urgency for Nathalie Du Pasquier back in 1987. From then on, painting became her favoured means of expression. She still has excursions into the realm of design, but the painter has definitely got the upper hand on the designer – perhaps because Du Pasquier has always been an artist at her core.
In the 1990s, when her work was particularly prominent in China (by virtue of an enterprising Hong Kong-based dealer), Du Pasquier developed a vigorous visual language in which her characteristic marks and strokes formed backgrounds, objects, spaces and shapes – they in turn became paintings and sculptures. Today, her work is held at galleries throughout Europe while New York’s Anton Kern Gallery announced representation of the Milan-based artist this week. In just the last three years, exhibitions have been dedicated to her in museums across Vienna, Philadelphia, London and Ljubljana.
Her career followed a trajectory decided by providence, rather than system. The naturalness of her journey is reflected in her latest exhibition ‘BRIC’, recently opened at ceramics brand Mutina’s headquarters in Modena, Italy. The brick is an essential structural element in human history and a recurring motif for the Memphis Group founding member. Here, it is a starting point for an installation that is at once dreamy and unpretentious.
Seven large sculptures inhabit the exhibition centre MUT, where the humble brick is the centrepiece of Du Pasquier’s installation. MUT, which is housed in an industrial building designed by the late Angelo Mangiarotti in the 1970s, is a light-filled cube of glass and cement. With the skill and dexterity of a croupier, the artist uses shape and texture, solids and voids, height and scale, to glorify the resolute normality of the brick and celebrate it as a cornerstone of architecture.
‘BRIC’ is a site-specific installation and the works themselves blur the boundaries between architecture and sculpture. Are they small towers or large pedestals? Could they be totems – or maybe even houses? They are panoramic viewing points that show us an artist’s outlook onto the world, and remind us of the need to liberate a thought that is coherent, human, analogical and positive.
Du Pasquier has made the most of Mutina’s productive techniques, which can be seen and felt in the finishes, the construction and the compositions that make up the installation. The collaboration has been such a success that it has even generated a new brick product called ‘Brac’ for Mutina’s catalogue. ‘Brac’ is available in five different finishes and can be used across a variety of structures and walls. The installation is curated by MUT director Sarah Cosulich and is open until the end of June next year.
INFORMATION
‘BRIC’, until 19 June 2020, MUT. mutina.it
ADDRESS
MUT
Mutina Headquarters
Via Ghiarola Nuova 16
41042 Fiorano Modenese
-
For London Gallery Weekend 2023, the mood is hardcore
With London Gallery Weekend 2023 almost upon us (2 – 4 June), here’s our list of must-see art exhibitions
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Birkenstock celebrates its most memorable styles with colourful capsule (and matching socks)
Birkenstock marks the 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of the Gizeh, Arizona and Madrid sandals, respectively, with limited-edition versions
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Zara Home and Vincent Van Duysen’s second collection is a hymn to conviviality
Zara Home+ by Vincent Van Duysen Collection 02 is the second chapter of the sophisticated collaboration and is focused on dining, featuring furniture, tableware and accessories
By Rosa Bertoli • Published
-
The best London art exhibitions: a guide for this weekend
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions this weekend, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Harriet Lloyd Smith • Published
-
Sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro transforms Fendi’s Rome HQ into a theatre of myth and magic
Fendi’s Roman HQ sets the scene for ‘Il Grande Teatro delle Civiltà’ a major show by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, who has also created a one-off edition of the house’s iconic Peekaboo bag. Read more in the July 2023 Issue of Wallpaper*, on newsstands 8 June
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Superflex on building an underwater city for fish: ‘there are different rules down there’
Danish art collective Superflex discuss their ambitious Super Reef, an underwater urbanisation project aiming to restore more than 55 square kilometres of stone reef in Danish seas
By Alice Godwin • Published
-
Raffaele Salvoldi stacks hundreds of marble blocks for dazzling Milan installation
For a Milan Design Week 2023 installation, Italian artist Raffaele Salvoldi teams up with marble brand Salvatori to create architectural sculptures comprising hundreds of marble blocks
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
John Pawson unveils first-ever sculpture in Tokyo exhibition
At The Mass, Tokyo, British architect John Pawson stages his first solo exhibition in Japan, revealing his first sculpture and a new photography series
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Bosco Sodi’s monumental new Mexico City studio is a multifunctional feat
As Bosco Sodi unveils his new Studio CMDX in Atlampa, Mexico City, we speak to the artist about how the vast Alberto Kalach-designed former warehouse is a feat in multitasking
By Juliana Piskorz • Published
-
Desert X 2023 is a staggering sculpture extravaganza spanning California’s Coachella Valley
Will Jennings travels to the Coachella Valley to explore outdoor sculpture exhibition Desert X 2023, which sees projects balance impact, subtlety, and unapologetic enormity
By Will Jennings • Published
-
Buckhorn Sculpture Park: inside the art paradise dreamt up by collectors Sherry and Joel Mallin
As legendary art collectors Sherry and Joel Mallin prepare to sell their upstate New York home – and the star-studded collection occupying Buckhorn, its onsite sculpture park – we go behind the scenes of this art treasure trove, and the extraordinary life, work and spirit of the Mallins
By MZ Adnan • Published