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David Altmejd

The Canadian sculptor David Altmejd has produced a wide variety of formally and thematically complex works in surprisingly diverse materials. The artist’s interest in biology and architecture combines with a fascination with metamorphosis to produce compellingly strange images reminiscent of the dreamlike or nightmarish worlds of David Cronenberg and David Lynch, or the labyrinthine narratives of Jorge Luis Borges.

Altmejd’s works are characterised by a wealth of detail that lends formal momentum to individual elements, which in some instances seems to originate from within the elements themselves. Animated by inner forces and radiating a taut sense of energy, they are like snapshots of single moments within a continual process of evolution. The natural forces illustrated in his sculptures are counterbalanced by currents of energy. Altmejd’s works unfold a disturbingly ambiguous narrative: even as they challenge viewers with unanswered questions, the sculptures validate their feelings and interpretations.

In sculptures such as The Orbit (2012), architectonic elements, mirrors, fruits and anatomical fragments again enhance the complexity of the works. For Altmejd, the dynamic movement in these pieces, which repeatedly breaks through the inner and sometimes even outer (plexiglass) boundaries, is a sign of powerful vital energy.

David Altmejd was born in Montreal in 1974. He lives and works in New York.

Artworks

  1. David Altmejd The Orbit, 2012

    Plexiglas, miroir, chaîne, fil métallique, peinture acrylique, résine époxy, argile époxy, gel acrylique, cheveux artificiels, yeux artificiels, plâtre, adhésif, fil
    241,3 x 662,3 x 188 cm
    Collection Mudam Luxembourg, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean
    Donation 2022 - Janne et Carl Christian Aegidius
    © Photo : Tim Safranek Photographics

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