Boxe

The most famous photograph in boxing history was taken from above: Muhammad Ali stands over a fallen opponent in the centre of the ring, the light gathered into a square, the crowd fading into darkness beyond the ropes. Twenty years later Mike Tyson became, at twenty, the youngest heavyweight champion of the world — and in the ring, as in memory, he stayed the opposite pole: not a dance but a blow. Two fighters, two opposite formulas of one sport, and the series rests on both.

The ring is seen from above, as in that photograph: the crowd runs off the edge, orange light gathers in the centre, the square of the canvas is left clean like a screen. In one work the ring is framed with roses — a floral frame around the hardest place on earth. In another a fighter lies down, and no one stands over him. On the light canvases there are figures in their stance, taken as silhouettes. In this series the bout has always already happened; what remains is the light, the square and the one still standing.

Relief on artboard — ropes, figures and flowers modelled in volume; paint; gold leaf in the light and the frames; epoxy resin, in which orange and black take on the depth of a night arena. The edition is numbered.

A series for a study, a gym, a men's club, a lounge. A ring on the wall is about discipline, not fighting; both Ali and Tyson would confirm it.