Mark Leckey “As Above So Below” at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris

The British artist Mark Leckey invites visitors into the heart of an exhibition unfolding around the ecstatic—that transportive state beyond the individual self. The gathered works recall unusual experiences and encounters that the artist has had, through which he became disoriented by the intense feelings they aroused.

The title “As Above So Below” is borrowed from the Emerald Tablet, a foundational text in western alchemy, first attested around the 7th to 9th century. This expression implies a permanent relationship between the cosmos and the earthly world, the animate and inanimate, the visible and invisible.

Mark Leckey strives to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary through his work, showing how music, dance, or the city at large can be vectors for experiencing the sublime. A highway bridge, a bus shelter, road-safety adverts, street-lamps, or an amusement park become, in his eyes, portals to another realm.

Fascinated by the Middle Ages, the artist also draws upon diverse iconographic references from the period. Our own era reminds him of medieval animist thought, insofar as our use of smartphones and artificial intelligence transform the objects around us into animate beings.

Across each of the works, Mark Leckey mobilizes experiences that allow him to feel an intense emotion and, in turn, an altered relationship to the world.

Curated by
Elsa Coustou

at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris
until July 20, 2025