Laurent Perbos’ beautiful works empower sports with art
Laurent Perbos draws inspiration from classic and antiquity themes
Antik-Basketball (Apollo), 2024, Polyurethane resin, steel base, Laurent Perbos
Laurent Perbos Paris Olympic Beauty and Gesture
During the Paris Olympics, French contemporary artist Laurent Perbos presented his installation work, Beauty and Gesture, on the steps of the National Assembly.
Faster, Higher, Stronger, 2023, Digital print on Dibond, Coloured elastic bands are arranged to mimic the Olympic rings, Laurent Perbos
The installation married classical sculpture with feminine and Olympian sentiments.
Related Women and Femininity in Ancient China revealing way of life
Six brightly coloured sculptures modelled on the Venus de Milo depicted various sports with their accompanying equipment, including boxing gloves, basketballs, surfboards, bows and arrows, tennis rackets, and javelins.
In the Heat of the Morning, 2024, Digital print mounted on Dibond, Laurent Perbos
Perbos’ eye-catching creation was remarkable, redefining the Venus figure, often associated with sexuality and sensuality, into one of vigorous, sporty prowess.
Related Hong Kong Street Art in Lai Chi Kok D2 Place shopping mall
The print In the Heat of the Morning, shows one of these sculptures, Basketball Venus at the top of the stairs, bathed in morning light from Place de la Concorde, echoing the opening of the Paris Olympics.
Rainball, 2025, Basketballs, stainless steel tube, Replacing the canvas with basketballs, the mode of painting is presented onto new materials, and arranged in a chromatic spectrum to resemble a rainbow, evoking the infinite possibilities of colour, Laurent Perbos
Beauty and Gesture was on display in Paris for six months in the lead-up to and during the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Related: Groundbreaking art, ceramics and prints by Picasso
Afterwards, the installation was exhibited in Hong Kong and, most recently, in Macau, to coincide with the fifteenth National Games of China.
Antik-Basketball (Meleager), 2024, Polyurethane resin, steel base, Laurent Perbos
Laurent Perbos primarily works in sculpture. However, he works across other media, including painting, photography, installation, and performance art.
Related Spanish artist Cristobal Gabarron hypnotic action painting
His art often draws inspiration from classical themes and from antiquity.
Laurent Perbos solo exhibition Artletics
Alongside Beauty and Gesture, City of Dreams in Macau also hosted Perbos’ solo exhibition Artletics.
The dual shows were purposely held in parallel with the National Games, which were taking place in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area.
Untitled, 2020, Digital print on Dibond, A toy in the shape of a basketball rests on a red ping-pong racket, the misplacement of sporting objects create an absurd yet humorous effect, Laurent Perbos
Drawing on both art and sports, he juxtaposes diverse perspectives to produce fantastical creations that fuse the two.
Related Pop Art pioneer Andy Warhol
The colossal Venus de Milo playing basketball is one such showstopper. The timeless icon is huge, taller than a two-story-high room.
Body Myth, 2025, Sculpture: Styrofoam, stainless steel, steel tube: Ball: Basketball, coated wire, cable, plates with fixed ring, Laurent Perbos
Venus is reimagined as a sporty Olympian, ready to receive the pass. The grand, monumental scale of the work is impressive, using forced perspective and undermining assumptions to reconcile vastly opposing concepts.
Related Ludwig Pollak Collection Museum of Ancient Sculpture in Rome
This and other sculptural installations form a collective titled Body Myth, in which Perbos reinterprets the narratives of ancient Greek heroes and deities.
Venus de Milo is reimaged as a modern, aggressive sportsperson
Venus de Milo is reimaged from a serene goddess of antiquity, somewhat frozen in time, to a modern, aggressive sportsperson.
Related Vatican Museum treasures and world’s most renowned works of art
In Antik-Basketball (Apollo) and Antik-Basketball (Giuliano de’Medici), a series of four sculptures recast from marble portraits of ancient Greek heroes, Perbos, changes the tone of these classical portraits from mythical to whimsical by replacing the cool surface of white marble with the speckled, striped material of multi-coloured basketballs.
Antik-Basketball (Giuliano de’Medici), 2024, Polyurethane resin, steel base, Laurent Perbos
The effect is striking and paradoxical.
Related Surrealism beyond Mythologies
The artist seeks to jolt the viewer with the surprising, unusual placement and use of familiar objects throughout his works.
Ping-Pong Garden, 2025, Powder-coated wood, perforated metal and table tennis rackets, Laurent Perbos
Ping-Pong Garden presents irregular and conjoined ping-pong tables with unwritten, mysterious rules. It is Ping-Pong reimagined.
Related Frog King bold marks and cacophony of colourful artworks
A sculpture of red and black rackets emerges like a giant growing cactus. In Cactus Ping-Pong #1, the rackets are not tools but are leaf-like jagged appendages that branch and reach outwards.
Cactus Ping-Pong #1, 2025, Aluminum, red and black rubber table tennis racket cover, Laurent Perbos
By altering everyday objects in unexpected ways, Perbos playfully challenges preconceptions.
Related Rosanna Li ceramic sculptures rotund and joyful appearance
He said, “In my series of works related to sport, I reclaim existing games – such as tennis court, basketball, or ping-pong table – and subvert their codes.
Antik-Basketball (Artemis), 2024, Polyurethane resin, steel base, Laurent Perbos
“The viewer is confronted with games that appear clearly defined yet, at some point, drift away from their original purpose, break their rules, and invite reflection on notions of failure and success, competitiveness and rivalry, leisure and labour.
Related Takashi Murakami pioneering art icons with massive social appeal
My intention is to create a space of play – an artwork as a field of both physical and intellectual exchange.
Text and photos Cammy Yiu
