L’altra figura, 1986-88

The version of L’altra figura commissioned for the garden of the Hôtel de Croisilles in Paris1 is closely tied to the presence of the iron railing that borders the rear of the green area. Through this "diaphragm" the two resin casts of Bertel Thorvaldsen’s Hebe (1812), placed on two iron frame plinths, exchange the fragments of the third cast distributed in random order on both sides of the metal railing, along with nine iron stretchers in the hypothetical role of "paintings" (the dimensions of the stretchers reproduce the square module of the grid).
The theme of the "other figure" was developed in five other previous versions, realized respectively in 1979-80 (GPO-0419), in 1983 (GPO-0501), in 1984 (GPO-0530), and in 1986 (GPO-0577, GPO-0578).

1 The direct commission was attributed on the occasion of the remodelling of the building, which was set up to host the public services of the Direction de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. The invitation to tender for the remodelling project was put out in November 1984, and it was won by the architect Christiane Schmückle-Mollard; the building site that began in 1986 came to an end when the new Hôtel de Croisilles opened on 17 March 1988. The conception of the garden delimited by a reticular structure was an integral part of the architectural concept. As the project was being implemented, the artist called the work Tertium non datur.