Marion Verboom's works embody some of the most recent developments in contemporary sculpture, while remaining firmly rooted in history. They are striking for their diversity of materials, shapes and colours, and can be interpreted on several levels. Verboom's sculpture is often associated with the notion of hybridisation, insofar as she brings together seemingly distant or even opposing elements to create new forms: parts of musical instruments, mechanical objects or anthropomorphic representations combine in a poetic narrative that arouses the viewer's curiosity. This sculpture is, however, anything but anecdotal. There are numerous references to roots, both personal and collective, as well as to the history of art (witness the Madonnas series, and the references to Bourdelle and Maillol in the new works). Verboom places artistic gesture and technical experimentation at the heart of her practice: porcelain is sometimes enamelled, sometimes matt, and contrasts with crystal, which in the latest works evokes the milky whiteness of alabaster.
For her first exhibition at Galerie Lelong & Co. she is presenting four Achronies, superimposed elements of different shapes, colours and materials that rise up in columns and evoke 'cores', cylindrical samples of soil that help us to better understand the geology and archaeology of a place. These are intimate, contemporary archaeologies, where we find superimposed the modelling of a clockwork mechanism, a double portrait of Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir, a Merovingian capital, an element from a flute, etc. In conversation with these totem poles, small-scale sculptures, figures and high-reliefs in clay and glass will also be shown.
In the 1990s, the gallery hosted artists who represented major movements in contemporary art: Sean Scully, Günther Förg, Andy Goldsworthy, Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Antonio Saura. The gallery also increased international recognition of the work of Ana Mendieta.
Galerie Lelong has a large publishing department which produces and distributes engravings, lithographs, digital prints and multiple objects, and collates these works in catalogues raisonnés.
It produces monumental sculptures to order for public spaces and private clients.
The gallery is present at the leading international contemporary art fairs (Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Basel Hong Kong, Fiac Paris, Frieze London, Frieze New York, Arco Madrid, Art Brussels, Expo Chicago...).
The directors of the gallery are Jean Frémon, Daniel Lelong and Patrice Cotensin in Paris and Mary Sabbatino in New York.
