The mystique of Daft Punk is found primarily in their futuristic sound that always seems to be way ahead of its time, but also in their signature masks that the pair rarely are seen in public without. Now Guy-Manel de Homen-Christo and Thomas Bangalter are being immortalized with unmasked wooden statues in a new exhibit being done by sculptor Xavier Veilhan. They will stand alongside Pharrell, Rick Rubin and others.
The sculptures are put together with stunning details, formed from birch plywood and 3-D scanning as the viewer is able to see the waves in Guy-Manuel and Bangalter's hair and clothing. The statues are a part of a greater exhibit titled "Music" that is opening today, Feb. 26, at Galerie Perrotin in New York and Paris.
The exhibit runs from today until April 11.
Veilhan spoke to Vice's The Creator's Project about the process of creating the sculptures and revealed that going maskless was in fact the pair's idea.
"The funny thing is I didn't even ask them," Veilhan told The Creator's Project, while installing "Music," a double exhibition opening this week at Galerie Perrotin's New York and Paris locations. "It was a very logical response to my proposal: I proposed to introduce them as producers, not as musicians, and so after talking to them, we decided that they should appear with their civilian names. [...] They proposed to me: 'OK, we should make the sculpture the non-existing image of us. So if somebody wants to see how we are like in real [life], they'll have to look at the sculpture."
In addition to the "One More Time" producers, Veilhan has chosen other visionary musicians to join them in wood. He has also crafted statues of The Neptunes (Pharrell and Chad Hugo), Quincy Jones, Giorgio Moroder, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Radiohead's Nigel Godrich and others.
