Monumental work - Paperclip enlarged, 2006, 420x770x400 cm

"Shelf Structure 1-2," which adopts Modernist forms, recalls Mondrian's Vertical-Horizontal Composition, 1999, 220x370x180 cm.

"Cube" under the sign of Minimalism, 1999, 70x70x70 cm.

Visually rich "Plates and Plate Graphics," 1993, 415x543 cm. Mathieu Mercier "Untitled 1993-2007" solo exhibition: on display at ARC, Musée Municipal d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris from October 20 to January 6, 2008. Born in 1970, Mathieu Mercier is one of the most representative artists of France's younger generation and winner of the 2004 Duchamp Prize. He stands out for his anomalous object sculptures, ingeniously altering everyday ready-mades or mixing modern industrial elements with artistic ones. He questions the pathways and symbolic functions of objects while affirming the problem of the object itself, completely overturning Bauhaus traditions. With an unhesitating attitude toward everyday or industrial objects and references to avant-garde art or other cultures, he creates without prejudice or preset assumptions. Mercier's autonomous object sculptures involve obsolete juxtapositions, inappropriate and anomalous convergences, possessing a distinctive hybrid character firmly situated within clear contexts. The meaning of the works updates according to their compositional function; his overlapping forms and sensations create possibilities for diverse readings. In this small retrospective spanning 1993 to 2007, we see early works like "Plates and Plate Graphics" (1993), where the artist skillfully maximizes the visual effect of plate colors and graphics, with circular patterns spreading across the wall like ripples. "Shelf Structure 1-2" (1999) adopts Modernist forms reminiscent of Mondrian's Vertical-Horizontal Composition; clearly derived from daily life and mass-produced industrial products, it reveals a mechanistic interpretation under new formal structures. Also in 1999, the "Cube" under the sign of Minimalism features cubes constructed from functional elements ranging from large to small, full of rhythm in design and architectural composition. Recent works include many poetic transformations or mixes of everyday ready-mades, such as "Untitled" (2005), which anomalously turns Gordian knots into neon lights. The strangely styled "Mask" (2006) mixes African masks with American-style football helmets. Also in 2006, "Untitled - Steel Colored" clearly enlarges and transforms office supplies—paperclips. "Homonculus" (2007) is a monumental sculpture presenting a highly characteristic black face with oversized hands, full of ironic humor. Operating between reality and imagination, figuration and abstraction, metaphor and sign, these extraordinary object sculptures become another possible field of exploration in contemporary art.