Les Lalanne at Transamerica Pyramid Center

Kasmin is proud to announce that Les Lalanne's first outdoor exhibition in San Francisco, curated by Lord Norman Foster and co-organized by Kasmin and SHVO, will inaugurate a public arts program at the newly remastered Transamerica Pyramid Center. The new series, Pyramid Arts, will celebrate innovation and creativity across the arts and sciences, launching with two exhibitions curated by Foster including Les Lalanne at Transamerica Pyramid Center.

Reimagining the magical world of the artists’ studio and garden near the Fontainebleau forest in France, Les Lalanne at Transamerica Pyramid Center will feature over 20 major works spanning four decades installed among the distinctive architectural elements of the park’s urban oasis. Drawing their distinctive imagery from flora and fauna, Les Lalanne’s sculptures create an extraordinary universe that emphasizes the importance of the natural world, transforming earthly references into imaginative creations that meld the elegance of art nouveau metalwork with ambitious sculptural inventions drawn from the realm of mythology.

Visitors to the Redwood Park will encounter François-Xavier’s Lapin à Vent, an inventive creature with a rabbit’s head that rotates with the pressure of the wind, a bird’s wings, a fish’s tail, and four hoofed legs. Elsewhere, François-Xavier’s landmark Âne planté, a pack donkey carrying pots of flowers, as well as an example of his monumental monkey titled Singe avisé, will be situated in the park. Claude’s L’enlèvement d’Europe, bringing Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses to life, will be featured; a related example was recently exhibited at the Palace of Versailles.

Les Lalannes' outdoor sculptures epitomize the surrealist methodology of intervening in public space, creating juxtapositions that defy expectations. Set among the historic Transamerica Pyramid and its beloved Redwood Park, Les Lalannes’ outdoor exhibition embodies the unexpected connections that define today’s urban life force, encouraging audiences to reconsider their daily encounters with art, nature, and the city itself. 

The exhibition builds on a longstanding relationship between the work of Les Lalanne and SHVO, with previous presentations including Les Lalanne at The Raleigh Gardens in Miami Beach (2019-20) and Sheep Station in New York (2013). The artists also have a history in California: in 1989, Les Lalanne installed six life-size topiary dinosaur fountains in Santa Monica, which still reside there today. Related topiary sculptures will also be on view in Les Lalanne at Transamerica Pyramid Center.