Sébastien Léon does not think in categories, nor does he fit into them. He is a multi-hyphenated creator whose work takes mediums, materials and forms in the ordinary way and finds in them something unique. “Each creation acts as an act of revelation: something that reveals itself through transformation,” reads his bio, and in his hands, resin can become leather or stone and glass can turn into fog or the edges of cloth or lava. So, the French-born New York artist has transformed himself, from a creative director to a designer and artist. He is variously described as a sculptor, artist, furniture designer and installation artist.
Léon first experimented with blown glass in 2019 while working on a lighting collection shown at Design Miami, and he describes the medium as one of transformation—sand that is tempered by fire, then shaped by the wind into a solid. That arc, from one form to another, is a useful description of his usual approach to his work, which includes not only visuals but also sounds. He has collaborated on projects with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, released three solo records, built a permanent sonic sculpture for the Orange County Museum of Art and created soundscapes heard around the world.
His work has been exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo, the New Museum, the Palazzo della Triennale and the UCCA in Beijing, and his commercial collaborations have extended to Audi, Samsung, Audemars Piguet and Krug, among others. Most recently, he completed an 18-month residency at the Ralph Pucci painting studio in Manhattan, which resulted in a new work, “Inca City.”
The series of lights and terrestrial objects takes its name from Angustus Labyrinthus on Mars—a complex network of geological hills so geometrically precise that they looked like the ruins of a lost civilization in images returned to Earth by the Mariner 9 probe. Alas, this similarity was obvious, but for Léon, that possible misreading opened the door to what he calls hypothetical archaeology—the construction of the remains of civilizations that never existed.
The works in “Inca City” are the result of a material philosophy that Léon has been refining throughout his work and the experiments that have driven that work forward. During the residency, he built and refined pieces for the Ralph Pucci social media exhibition, where he had access to artisans and tools to work with materials ranging from clay and resin to metal. The viewer connected with Léon after the exhibition opened to discuss what it means to dig up a civilization that never existed, why the work can be its own kind of illusion and what noise is related to sculpture.
Your work includes a variety of materials and techniques. Is that multiplicity driven by the search for the right place, or is the movement between things itself the point?
More than anything, I think it’s because each idea wants its own way. Glass, metal, resin, sound, etc., each carries a special behavior and symbolic weight. What interests me is how far I can push that behavior until the object begins to contradict itself: resin that reads like leather, glasses that melt into transparency, wool tapes that feel like furry surfaces. My exploration of the medium is really a way to stay in that unstable place of changing perspective.
Your audio functions are very focused. How does your engagement with sound relate to your work with physical objects?
Sound is probably the most direct way I think about existence. It is invisible, yet it completely shapes the way we experience space. It suggests a memory, an emotion, a place, and even some kind of material. Any image, for me, is something that comes out: light, reflection, tension, or even some kind of quiet aura. I approach a miniature in the same way as I approach a sculpture. They all have a voice, something to say, a role to fulfill.
“Inca City” at Ralph Pucci International feels suspended between abstraction and something almost geological, like artifacts from a civilization that might have existed elsewhere. There is a strong sci fi undertone. Was that intentional?
“Inca City” is a real geological formation on Mars, resembling the ruins of a lost city. It was the beginning of an exhibition, which I developed as a kind of imaginary archeology, creating artifacts from civilizations that never existed. The sci-fi element is definitely there, but not in a futuristic sense; it’s about removing time and space entirely. I’m interested in imagining a different virtual world, almost a set of parallel scenarios where matter follows a slightly altered logic. Glass can act like stone, surfaces can change between opaque and transparent and objects can grow into their final forms instead of being cut to fit.
When you create functional pieces, do you look at them differently from your speculative works?
What interests me is when a piece fulfills a use, but at the same time disrupts your perception of what it is. A table that seems to float, or a mirror that behaves in unexpected ways. I associate work as a magic trick, as an illusion. So I see my work as a continuum where the work becomes a kind of entry into an abstract experience. I’m often asked if my work is design or art, but I don’t think in those terms.
On your website, you ask the question “Design or Transform?” What are you trying to promote with that idea?
‘Design’ broadly refers to solving a problem through the creation of an object, but I am more interested in changing the nature of the object itself. The transformation suggests a profound, almost alchemical change. What I hope inspires is the moment when the viewer is no longer sure whether they are looking at something familiar or something changed. In the word “transmutation”, there is a sense of magic, of turning from lead to gold, and invention, and all of this resonates with me.
There seems to be a world-building element to your work. Is there a line connecting these pieces?
There is definitely some world-building, but it’s not a narrative in the literal sense. It’s like pieces of a larger system that keeps growing to reveal itself. Each creation, each exhibition, becomes a way to present new elements, be it pictorial, sonic, or olfactory. Over time, the idea is that this area is gradually revealed as a set of conditions that we must find. “The Inca City” is slowly revealing itself to me and to all people.
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