Brussels, Belgium-based artist David Mesguich used polypropylene sheets or recycled plastic, to create a huge 4 x 3 x 2 meter sculpture of a woman’s head. Called Luz 1.0, the futuristic-looking being symbolizes “the passage from one dimension to another, from the concrete to the mental world.” Simply put, she is “trying to overcome physical boundaries.”
In order to convey this message, the artist worked for two weeks straight, first sketching the idea on paper, and then deciding on a composition. His next step involved creating a 3D model, saying it was “kind of a giant puzzle that I built during the week.” Finally, he spray painted it, just as if he was spray painting graffiti on a wall. As he tells us, “I was really out of time with the painting and had no sketch so it was done the ‘freestyle way’ in four hours.
The very first plastic sculpture was made in September 2012, as part of the Nuit Blanche art festival in Paris. It was all-white and dedicated to his daughter and her mother. Luz 1.0 was named after Lucie, who was born just a few weeks after the piece was completed.
The most recent piece looked more abstract and had that futuristic spray painted element to it. It was displayed in March 2013, first in front of a police station and then on the lawn of Clichy’s town hall.
When asked how people reacted to the sculpture, Mesguich replied, “I was mainly impress by the children. Most of them were fascinated by the piece and curious about it, trying to climb and play with it.
“Some people didn’t see a woman’s face but a big polygonal, abstract thing. I remember a policeman asking me why we put an igloo in front of the police station and a grandma who said ‘I hope they won’t have it there forever.’ A lot of funny situations happened as people tried interacting with the sculpture, each person made up their own story, which was different from mine.”
