François-Xavier Lalanne: Sheep Station

Michael Shvo and Paul Kasmin Gallery are pleased to announce Sheep Station featuring the work of late artist François-Xavier Lalanne as the inaugural exhibition of Getty Station, a new public art program located at the former Getty filling station in West Chelsea.  This groundbreaking exhibition will debut on September 17, 2013 at 239 10th Avenue.

Sheep Station will showcase 25 of the iconic epoxy stone and bronze ‘Moutons,’ and mark the largest collection to ever be shown publicly in an outdoor presentation.  Lalanne’s first iteration of the sculptures was his infamous ‘Moutons de Laine’ in 1965, gradually expanding this particular body of work to include additional variations of the sculpture in epoxy stone and bronze in 1977. Sheep Station will include works from his series ‘Les Nouveaux Moutons’ – made up of the Belier (1994), the Brebis (1994) the Agneau (1996), and Le Mouton Transhumant (1988). Also shown is an earlier series titled ‘Mouton de Pierre,’ executed between 1979 and 1984.

Set in a surrealist landscape amidst the existing industrial gas station architecture, the sheep symbolize Lalanne’s mission to demystify art and capture its joie de vivre. ‘Moutons’ have become Lalanne’s most iconic work, embodying his very approach to art while commenting on the nature of art itself.

Getty Station is a public art program based at the former Getty filling station conceived by real estate developer and art collector Michael Shvo to bring outdoor exhibitions to a broad audience in the center of the High Line arts district.  The program centers on site specific installations as an opportunity to incorporate a classic twentieth century American icon into the contemporary art dialogue.  The Getty filling station was purchased by SHVO and Victor Homes in 2013, and will be transformed to the premier collection of luxury residences near the High Line.  Getty Station will feature exhibitions for extended periods of time throughout the construction period and will eventually be incorporated into the building as a permanent element.   www.gettystation.com

François-Xavier Lalanne (1927–2008) developed a style that defines inventive, poetic, and surrealist sculpture individually and collectively as a couple with Claude Lalanne as Les Lalanne.  In 2010, Les Lalanne were the subject of a major retrospective at the Museé Des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and a large-scale public exhibition at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Florida. Their work was also featured on New York’s Park Avenue in 2009 and in the Christie’s sale of the collection of Yves Saint Laurent in February 2009. The work of Les Lalanne is included in major collections including the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York, the Museé Nationale d’Art Moderne/Centre Georges Pompidou, the Museé d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, the City of Paris, the City of Santa Monica, and the City of Jerusalem.