Julie Hamisky: Transference

Kasmin announces an exhibition of new sculpture by French artist Julie Hamisky. Immortalizing the most intricate details of the natural world, Hamisky continues to garner international recognition for her rigorous electroplating technique that belies the ephemeral forces of nature. In freestanding sculptures, mirrors, chandeliers, and fine jewelry, Hamisky’s transformative approach to casting organic matter preserves fleeting moments in time.

Casting fresh flowers, produce, and other forms from nature, Hamisky captures the winding veins and ornate textures of her materials with an unparalleled delicacy and precision, preserving the natural state of beauty before it decays. Often using a 3D printer to dramatically manipulate the scale of her material, Hamisky further transforms her works through an oxidation process that produces an expressive range of colors. Introducing new technologies to an age-old process, Hamisky continues to expand the techniques she learned from years of working alongside her father and grandmother, the celebrated sculptors Kim Hamisky and Claude Lalanne.

Hamisky’s “race against time,” as described by The New York Times, begins upon her selection of natural subject matter, such as a fresh poppy flower enlarged to nearly 8 feet high in La Géante (2024). Towering over its viewer, the petals and heart of the flower retain their original details while the stem winds downward, balanced by three banana leaves. In works such as Moi and Toi (both 2024), a pair of sculptures of desert candle flowers emerging from a bed of corn husk, Hamisky produces unexpected colors ranging from blue and pink when submerging the work into liquid at various temperatures. Hamisky’s colors deepen their affective force in works such as Cœur brûlant (Burning Heart), in which cordate radicchio leaves with a green patina surround small clouds of lilac flowers in colors determined by the heat of a blowtorch.

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“Once her subjects are selected,
a kind of race against time begins.”
—The New York Times