fig.1

Pawel Althamer

• Althamer is at times difficult to explain, he is a contemporary sculptor installation artist and certainly not last nor least a video artist. He was born in Poland (where he currently resides) and has grown to be one of Poland's most outstanding contemporary artist. As an artist he uses anything and everything at his disposal allowing for a wide range of work and mediums.
• At the 55th La biennale di Venezia Althamer was represented at two major exhibitions, The Arsenale, an official event and an unofficial showing of his work called Parallel Convergences. At the Arsenale Althamer had a room filled with ghostly sculptures of local Venetians Cast in plastic(fig. 2); the bodies of those plasticized people were made up primarily of abstract ribbons of plastic, folding and wrapping around an internal frame. The faces done in life casts, capturing the finest of details; this juxtaposition of likeness created a feel of solemnity. It felt as if I were standing in the mists of wondering lost souls.

Source: http://www.designboom.com/art/pawel-althamer-plastifies-venetians-for-the-55th-venice-biennale/