Two sculptures face each other at the Opera Gallery in Paris, one of them is Reina Mariana by Manolo Valdés (Spain,1942) and the other is Seated Secury Guard by Marc Sijan.

The first plays between the past and the present because it is the reinterpretation or appropriation of the iconic painting Las Meninas (1656) by Diego Velázquez (Spain, 1599-1660). Valdés explains it like this: “I am just a narrator who comments on the history of painting in various ways, using new materials: It is like a game that consists of changing the code and the key to the artwork…”

The Seated Security Guard is a hyper-realistic sculpture that confuses the visitor because it’s located in a strategic place in the room. From his chair he watches us and only when we get closer do we understand that it is another of Marc Sijan's sculptures (Serbia, 1946). The real scale of the piece and the lack of idealization of the character is astonishing due to the technical quality. It is impossible not to fall into the temptation of getting as close as possible (to almost touching the work) in order to extract something from that immobile being that we cannot stop observing: the freckles, the wrinkles, all the details of the passage of time of a human being, trapped in a complex and meticulous methodology.