Hyper-sensitive

The Musée d'arts de Nantes is dedicating its major exhibition 2023 to hyperrealist sculpture. With over thirty works by eleven international sculptors, the Musée d'arts explores the profoundly human and sensitive nature of this meticulously realistic sculpture, whose effect of illusion is particularly striking.

Emerging after several decades of an art scene marked by abstraction, hyperrealist sculpture is part of a history of portraiture, like painting and photography.
Using a variety of techniques including bronze, stoneware, resin and silicone, the artists depict men, women and everyday objects with meticulous attention to detail, creating a particularly striking effect of illusion.
The exhibition features nearly forty works, some of them previously unseen, from public and private collections, on loan from the artists or their galleries in France and abroad.

An exhibition in three sections:

1. The real with the fake: extreme precision and attention to detail are at the heart of hyperrealist artists' approach. The sculptor does not idealize the representation of the body, but presents it uncompromisingly in its finest reality. The non-verbal language of the body plays a central role. Visitors are invited to observe postures, gestures, expressions, bodies or fragments, wrinkles and skin texture.
2. Bodies, fictions, mirrors: by offering the visitor a double, a mirror effect, hyper-realistic sculpture naturally leads the visitor to question the works, the characters, their history, their thoughts... everyone projects themselves and invents their own story.
3. The paradox of the invisible: by sculpting the human being as realistically as possible, artists succeed in revealing the most immaterial part of the individual: feeling, thought, emotion... this section looks at the astonishing ability of this art form to make the invisible visible.

A sensitive experience

Through the meticulously faithful representation of bodies, hyperrealist sculpture offers a medium for projection, a double, a mirror, provoking a singular encounter between the visitor and the work, between emotion and fascination, identification and rejection...

Through its sensitive approach, the exhibition questions the way we look at works that resemble us. Beyond our interest in technical prowess, why are we so deeply disturbed? Where does the power of these works come from? Where does the work of art really belong? How can this representation of reality touch us so deeply?

The Hyper sensible exhibition brings to the forefront the work of artists, some of whom have little exposure in France. It brings together artists whose work is exclusively hyperrealist and others who use it only occasionally or partially. But all are strongly linked to the human figure, and each in his or her own way takes a look at what makes up our existence, our relationships and our presence in the world.
By replaying the formal challenges of sculpture, and using extremely sophisticated techniques, the artists reveal what exists, making visible what cannot be seen, but which affects our emotions: sensitivity.

It's up to you to find out for yourself...

Artists on display:

Gilles Barbier, Berlinde De Bruyckere, John DeAndrea, Daniel Firman, Duane Hanson, Sam Jinks, Tony Matelli, Saana Murtti, Evan Penny, Marc Sijan, Tip Toland.

At the heart of the exhibition with Katell Jaffrès

The curator of the exhibition Hyper sensible. A look at hyper-realist sculpture immerses you in the exhibition-event of the moment, and tells you about this unique experience, to be enjoyed at the Musée d'arts de Nantes.

A look at the works Hyper sensible

Four professionals from different backgrounds, with a particular relationship to the "other" in the practice of their profession, take a precise and enlightened look at one of the works in the Hyper sensible exhibition. A look at hyperrealist sculpture.

In coproduction with Télénantes

Nicolas Gremaud, tattoo artist

Charles Bobant, philosopher

Ariane Yadan, visual artist

Éléonore Beaumont, psychologist

Fabien Olicard Hyper sensitive

The mentalist and Youtubeur with 2 million subscribers, Fabien Olicard, came to visit Hyper sensible.
In this video, he gives us his cerebral approach to the exhibition, giving us keys to understanding the bugs caused by our brains when faced with these hyper-real works.

The Flea Market Lady's journey

From the museum's storerooms to the Patio, take a behind-the-scenes look at the move and installation of Duane Hanson's famous Flea Market Lady, which takes its place in the exhibition Hyper sensible. A look at hyperrealist sculpture.

Lisa and Jérémie Thomas from the podcast Sens de la visite visited the Hyper sensible exhibition. They met the men and women who imagined it, bring it to life, and discover it.
An episode full of sensitivity and emotion.

Also available on all listening platforms.

Catalog published for the exhibition Hyper sensible. A look at hyperrealist sculpture, presented at the museum from April 7 to September 3, 2023.

Available for consultation at the museum library.

All museum publications

Books selected by the museum library

The museum library has put together a selection of books to accompany the exhibition Hyper sensible. A look at hyperrealist sculpture. You can consult them at the library by appointment.