Whether they are figuratively defying gravity in Louis Vuitton’s Tokyo gallery space or physically breaking through a café ceiling in Paris, Xavier Veilhan’s works can’t help but garner hype. The French artist has turned his hand at everything from painting and photography to film and installation, but he is best known for his audacious sculptures.
His first major UK outdoor exhibition opens at Hatfield House on 7 April. Covering the grounds of the West Garden, 'Promenade' is a configuration of new site-specific pieces and recent greatest hits, such as 'Le Monument' - a startling red supremetist architectural space - and 'Les Rayons', a stunning, penetrable formation inspired by Fred Sandback and Jesús-Rafael Soto.
Colour is a main concern for Veilhan. He has tweaked the hues of some his previously seen works to give them new life at Hatfield House. ‘Vibration’, an inox steel composition based on the Amish horse and carriage, was first created in brown for the marble courtyard of the Shanghai World Expo, but now appears in a completely new shade of electric blue here.
It would be easy to compare this show to his much-lauded 2009 exhibition at Versaille, but Hatfield, with its leafy trees and natural garden foliage is an entirely different habitat to the structured formality of Versaille’s grounds. A giant aluminium horizontal statue of cosmonaut Youri Gagarine, for example, lies on its back entirely surrounded by grass - a strange but bucolic setting much unlike the stone floor in which it had previously been shown.
Indoors in the great 16th century Marble Hall, 'The Hatfield Mobile', a giant 21st century tangerine colour burst of an installation has been affixed to Giulio Taldini's ceiling and watches over 17th century Brussels tapestry and portraits of the likes of Queen Elizabeth I - a nice denoument to the anglo-french venture that has taken over Hatfield.
'Norman Foster' by Xavier Veilhan, 2011. Courtesy: Galerie Perrotin (Paris), Stephen Ambrose, Xavier Veilhan
'Le Gisant, Youri Gagarine' by Xavier Veilhan, 2009. Courtesy: Galerie Perrotin (Paris), Stephen Ambrose, Xavier Veilhan
'Alice' by Xavier Veilhan, 2012. Courtesy: Galerie Perrotin (Paris), Stephen Ambrose, Xavier Veilhan
'Vibration' by Xavier Veilhan, 2010-2012. Courtesy: Galerie Perrotin (Paris), Stephen Ambrose, Xavier Veilhan
'The Hatfield Mobile' by Xavier Veilhan, 2012. Courtesy Galerie Perrotin (Paris), Stephen Ambrose, Xavier Veilhan
ADDRESS
Hatfield House
Hatfield
Hertfordshire
AL9 5NQ
-
Ronan Bouroullec book merges art, design and everyday life‘Ronan Bouroullec: Day After Day’, from Phaidon, is a visual inventory of the French designer’s work, artistic output and daily inspiration
-
Inside the gleaming new Comme des Garçons store in Paris
Comme des Garçons reveals a four-storey new retail space in Paris, housing lines previously only available in Japan, as well as exclusive reissues of Rei Kawakubo’s collectible furniture
-
Eva Jospin and Ruinart put the fizz in Frieze London 2023
Champagne house Ruinart brings artist Eva Jospin’s vision of its terroir to Frieze London 2023, and celebrates with a limited edition Jeroboam of Ruinart Blanc de Blancs
-
New glass sculpture creates a verdant wonderland at Apple’s Cupertino HQ
‘Mirage’ at Apple Park is the work of Zeller & Moye and artist Katie Paterson, a shimmering array of glass columns that snakes through the grounds of the company’s monumental HQ
-
Man Ray’s sculptures go on show in New York
‘Man Ray: Other Objects’ opens at Luxembourg + Co, New York, revealing their author’s ‘artistic revolution’
-
The best London art exhibitions to see now
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
-
Erwin Wurm’s pop-coloured fantasy land at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
In Erwin Wurm’s first UK museum show, ‘Trap of the Truth’, the artist transforms Yorkshire Sculpture Park into a slightly warped wonderland (10 June 2023 – 28 April 2024)
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
