Bordalo II is back in Paris, and—spoiler alert—so is our garbage. The Portuguese artist, known for sculpting animals from our collective waste, is launching IRRÉVERSIBLE. This new exhibition hits like a manifesto against overconsumption, environmental destruction, and humanity’s inability to pick up after itself. From May 24 to June 28, 2025, in the 13th arrondissement, the artist will transform a raw 300 m² space into a shrine of ecological reckoning, complete with his signature endangered species portraits made from salvaged plastic. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be judged by a looming panda constructed from discarded bottle caps, now’s your chance.

Bordalo II has made a career out of reminding us that the garbage belongs to us and we’re all complicit. “Bordalo II has created a spectacular practice of creating street works from it that shock passersby with his ingenuity – while raising our collective consciousness about our responsibility to the earth,” we once noted. The shock factor is real—his oversized trash animals are both majestic and damning, forcing us to see the wreckage of our habits in 3D.

But this time, he’s taking it further. IRRÉVERSIBLE introduces Provocations, a more personal series that subverts everyday urban objects, stripping them from their usual context and throwing them back at us in a way that makes the familiar feel foreign. It may be an unsettling yet oddly satisfying confrontation—like seeing a McDonald’s sign in an art gallery and suddenly feeling existential about a Big Mac.  

With IRRÉVERSIBLE, Bordalo II makes a case that we’ve pushed past the point of no return. And while his work has always blurred the line between activism and street spectacle, this exhibition leans even harder into the uncomfortable truths about how we live, consume, and discard. Mathgoth Gallery is hosting, but make no mistake—it’s a call-out, a last warning, and maybe, if we’re lucky, an invitation to change before it’s too late.

IRRÉVERSIBLE de BORDALO II

1, rue Alphonse Boudard – 75013 Paris

Du 24 mai au 28 juin 2025

238

138

45