The meeting between digital art and sculpted marble is at the center of Léo Caillard’s research, the protagonist of our cover for the Art Market Report 2025.
How does Leo Caillard combine classical sculpture and digital universes?
The practice of Leo Caillard arises from an apparent paradox: the connection between the extraction of Doric columns and imperial busts, and the creation of virtual currencies generated by interconnected computers.
On one side, there is the ancestral art of quarrying marble, shaping volumes, confronting the physical weight of the material. On the other, the abstraction of blockchain and systems that could one day replace banks and, perhaps, states.
Moreover, his educational path reflects this dual belonging. Graduated from the Gobelins School in Paris, Caillard completed his training with the study of classical marble sculpture, consolidating a solid technical foundation.
Since 2017, he has focused his research on the duality between the physical world and the digital universe: between blocks of marble and blockchain, between tangible presence and virtual reality. This tension becomes the guiding thread of the work.
Why is Leo Caillard’s sculpture linked to the figure of Janus?
The dialogue with Caillard symbolically falls within the sphere of Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and ends, thresholds, choices, and transitions. A figure with two faces, facing opposite directions.
On one side, the gaze towards the past, ancient models, sculptural tradition. On the other, the projection towards the future, emerging technologies, new digital landscapes that redefine our relationship with images and time.
Overall, Caillard’s work is situated exactly on this boundary line. His sculptures seem to traverse different eras, like doors that connect distant civilizations and seemingly irreconcilable imaginaries.
What is “IA Face Stone” and what role does it play in Caillard’s work?
The sculpture IA Face Stone, chosen for the cover of our Art Market Report 2025, condenses many of these tensions. The face, carved in stone, recalls classical busts displayed in European museums.
However, the implicit reference to artificial intelligence and the generation of synthetic images introduces a second level of reading. The marble, a millennial material, thus becomes a support for an imaginary linked to software and computing power.
In this way, Caillard constructs a visual short circuit: the memory of the ancient intertwines with the projection of faces created by algorithms, suggesting a future where identity and representation will be increasingly hybrid.
Who is the monumental figure installed in Narbonne and La Défense?
At the beginning of 2026, the artist installed a gigantic marble bust on the beach of Narbonne, in the south of France. The work dialogues with a previous sculpture placed at La Défense, in Paris, two years earlier.
It is the sculpture Neptune in the Wind, born within a cycle where the stone seems to become fluid, almost shaped by the wind. The subject is inspired by ancient deities like Zeus, Hercules, and Neptune.
Moreover, the massive figure of the bust appears as if it were sculpted and at the same time consumed by natural elements. The sea and the wind become co-authors of the work, which directly confronts the landscape and its transformations.
Why is the large format central to his sculptures?
Leo Caillard emphasizes how large-format sculptures, created both for public commissions and private collectors, represent a technical challenge in working with marble.
However, he considers these dimensions a decisive expressive tool. Monumentality indeed allows for rediscovering the social dimension of sculpture: an outdoor art, accessible to all, integrated into urban or natural space.
The choice of large format also fits into the tradition of European public works but updates its language. In contrast to the celebratory monuments of the past, here the subject is not political power but the relationship between man, time, and environment.
What is the allegorical meaning of “Neptune in the Wind”?
Neptune in the Wind is an allegorical work that insists on the contrast between the solidity of form and the fluidity of movement. The stone, by definition immobile, seems to undulate and bend.
This tension recalls the dialogue between two spaces and two times that runs through Caillard’s entire production. The marble evokes the permanence of the ancient, while the deformations suggest a continuous flow, akin to the logic of digital data.
Moreover, the position of the work on the beach of Narbonne exposes it to the elements, accentuating the theme of erosion. The bust thus becomes a metaphor for the transformations that affect our societies and the very idea of memory.
Are we living in an era of historical turning point?
Asked about our present, Caillard firmly believes that the beginning of the 21st century will be remembered as a transitional phase comparable to the Renaissance of the 14th century.
Then as now, we witness a blend of extraordinary technical innovations and profound social upheavals. Digital revolutions, like the printing press once did, are reshaping hierarchies, economies, and forms of knowledge.
That said, the artist claims a precise role for the visual arts in this context. In his view, the ability to evoke emotion through beauty remains one of the possible paths to building a better tomorrow.
What role can beauty play in a technological world?
For Caillard, beauty is not a decorative concept but a vector of transformation. In an environment dominated by screens, data, and algorithms, material works retain an anchoring function.
Moreover, the convergence between traditional sculptural practices and digital tools can open new forms of sensitivity. The stone, worked with classical techniques, dialogues with imaginaries generated by software, creating unprecedented spaces for contemplation.
According to this perspective, art continues to be a ground for mediation between eras and languages. Just like Janus, Caillard’s work looks to the past without giving up on questioning with clarity the future of our worlds, both physical and virtual.
To delve deeper into the historical context of the Renaissance, one can consult the resources of the Musée du Louvre. For the part related to emerging technologies, the reports published by the World Economic Forum and the analyses dedicated to blockchain available on MoMA are useful.
As expert in digital marketing, Amelia began working in the fintech sector in 2014 after writing her thesis on Bitcoin technology. Previously author for several international crypto-related magazines and CMO at Eidoo. She is now the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Cryptonomist and Econique.
She is also a marketing teacher at Digital Coach in Milan and she published a book about NFTs for the Italian publishing house Mondadori, while she is also helping artists and company to entering in the sector. As advisor, Amelia is also involved in metaverse-related project such as The Nemesis and OVER.
