Léo Caillard (French, b. 1985) is a sculptor who carves marble using classical techniques to bridge ancient heritage with contemporary culture.,,Since 2018 he has extended this practice into digital art, certifying and releasing works on the blockchain alongside his sculpture.,
After studying digital photography at the École des Gobelins in Paris, graduating in 2008, Caillard created the photographic series Hipsters in Stone in 2013, digitally re-dressing neoclassical sculptures from the Louvre's collection in the style of New York hipsters.,The series, which fused ancient myths with contemporary street style, spread widely online and launched his international career.He later extended the idea into marble and bronze, carving works such as Renaissance Woman III and, since 2013, a series of clothed classical busts titled Hipsters in Bronze.,
Since 2015 Caillard has worked with generative AI research, and since 2021 he has produced sculptures and digital pieces built on blockchain technology, including work released as Bitcoin ordinals alongside his marble sculptures.,In some pieces he layers a glitch effect over classical figures such as Venus and Apollo, so that a digital wave appears to ripple through the marble.By 2024 his digital work Runestone had been distributed to more than 110,000 collectors.His sculptures have been shown alongside those of artists including Yves Klein, Damien Hirst, and Marc Quinn, and his work has been shown at institutions including the Louvre Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Fondation Cartier, LACMA, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.
