TORSO I, II, III

Date: 2021
Medium: Wood core, polyurethane foam, and silicone
Courtesy: Courtesy the artist and Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp

The Torso works recall a long tradition of sculpture that can be traced back to the ancient Greek statue, the masculine ideal, and the tradition of the nude—classics of Western culture.

Historically, the nude refers to a vision of physical and psychological excellence that the Greeks represented through muscular and powerful men of heroic or divine status. In Martin Margiela’s work, this masculinity disrupts the scale: he sculpts a being with mutant forms and an unidentifiable body that looks more like a collage. The sculptures are attached to their plinths and trimmed to line up with the same dimensions. Traces of wear and tear appear at the bottom of the plinths: the work as a whole suggests the end of an ideal, that of a certain masculinity on the one hand, and the authority and distance of the works on the other.


Production specifications

The Fondation preserves and documents traces of the works at various stages of their creation (sketches, models, prototypes, etc.).
TORSO I, II, III, Martin Margiela, 2021
01 April 2022
Usinage des Bustes
19 March 2020
Modélisation des différentes pièces en vue de leur usinage
02 February 2020
Travail de modélisation sur l'ensemble de l'oeuvre
20 January 2020
Recherches de production

Réflexion scénographique d'après maquette miniaturisée de l'oeuvre finale

25 November 2019
Sculptures de détails anatomiques

Les sculptures ne représenteront pas les positions dans leur globalité, seulement des parties de corps, devenant ainsi des formes autonomes.

18 November 2019
Etude sur des parties des positions sélectionnées
07 November 2019
Positions retenues par l'artiste
29 October 2019
Etude sur les futures formes anatomiques

Un modèle adopte différentes poses, numérisées ensuite en 3D par Creaform. Cette entreprise est spécialisée dans les technologies de mesure 3D.

28 October 2019