French artist Xavier Veilhan has created two new sculptures of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, which are set to be permanently installed across from the architects' iconic building, the Centre Pompidou.
The sculptures are variations on pieces in Veilhan's Architects series, first exhibited at a private viewing in the Palace of Versailles in 2009. They will be exhibited at Galerie Perrotin in Paris before they are erected on Place Edmond Michelet opposite the Centre Pompidou.
Like the original sculptures, Veilhan's new creations are made from stainless steel and have a faceted surface, but vary from the originals in their size and colour.
The new works are painted in greens tones to reflect the colour scheme of the Centre Pompidou at the time of its construction. For their public installation, the sculptures will be placed on pedestals, and measure up to five metres high. Architects are a favoured subject for Veilhan, who describes them as "contemporary heroes".

"At first I thought about [sculpting] pop stars, politicians or famous actors, but I realised that I didn't want to celebrate other people than architects, who I consider to be contemporary heroes," Veilhan told Dezeen.
"Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers are very important architects of the 20th and 21st centuries. In their work, one can find a technical feat and an idea of modernity based on technology, as well as the humanist ideas developed in the 1970s, that they have put into practice ...