Noi, i Grotteschi: our photos of Guillermo Forchino’s free exhibition at Galerie Joseph

Our foibles come into sharp relief at Galerie Joseph in Paris’s Marais district, where Guillermo Forchino brings together 124 sculptures for the free exhibition “Noi, i Grotteschi,” running from November 6 to 29, 2026. Forty years of creative work tell a human comedy in which biting humor exposes the fragilities of our society.

When biting caricature becomes a mirror of our flaws: Guillermo Forchino comes to the Galerie Joseph with Noi, i Grotteschi. Open to the public free of charge from November 6 to 29, 2026, at 116 rue de Turenne (Paris 3rd arrondissement), this free exhibition brings together 124 sculptures. The exhibition pairs his iconic satirical figures with previously unseen, moving works on the climate emergency, isolation and the passage of time.

The Italian title translates to "We, the Grotesques". And that “we” offers a lens for looking at the works: behind the distorted silhouettes and absurd situations, Forchino speaks to distinctly human behaviors. His characters may be drawn in caricature, but their contradictions feel familiar. We can laugh at their attitudes, before noticing what the scene reveals about our own habits.

Born in Argentina in 1952, Guillermo Forchino lives and works in Paris. After training at the National School of Fine Arts in Rosario, he pursued restoration and conservation studies at Panthéon-Sorbonne University, and helped establish the restoration workshop at the Juan B. Castagnino Fine Arts Museum in Rosario. As a sculptor, his work draws especially on the worlds of Hieronymus Bosch, Goya, Otto Dix or George Grosz, where the distortion of the body is used to lay bare social dynamics.

The exhibition stages a dialogue among five series. With Comœdia Mundi, the artist builds a human comedy populated by figures as moving as they are fragile. But the walk-through also revisits Desafinados, presented as early as 1985, which delves into the world of psychiatric institutions. Bodies and their poses are used to probe confinement, loneliness, and institutional violence.

In La mirada negada, or Le Regard dénié, Forchino deepens his meditation on those we’d rather not see: the elderly, marginalized individuals, and victims of forced disappearances under the dictatorship. The tone grows even more caustic with Me ne frego, literally "I don’t give a damn," a stinging portrait of indifference in the face of environmental upheaval. And with Ajustes, devoted to budget cuts, the chainsaw becomes the emblem of the cuts that erode social solidarity.

This retrospective was born out of a meeting between the sculptor and collector François-Henri Bennahmias. After acquiring a work from Comœdia Mundi, he discovered other dimensions of the artist’s work in his Paris studio. The visit gave rise to the idea of bringing these collections together and introducing them to a wider audience. The exhibition spans two floors: the first section, upstairs, delivers immediately apparent, powerful messages about ecology and climate disruption. The second section, on the ground floor, explores society from various perspectives (anthropological, economic, etc.).

To plan your visit, Galerie Joseph is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., with late opening until 10 p.m. on Fridays. The exhibition is closed on Mondays, and admission is free.

Which character will grab your attention remains to be seen: the one whose stance amuses you, the one who unsettles you, or the one who looks a little too much like someone you know. At Forchino, sometimes a single detail is enough to tilt the interpretation of a scene.

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