They're impossible to miss on the forecourt of the Grand Palais. For Art Paris 2026, two monumental inflatable bears by Fabrice Hyber are welcoming visitors from April 9th to 12th, including a large, 10-meter-high green bear already prominently displayed in front of the entrance. Behind their playful and immediately spectacular appearance, these sculptures convey a much more complex message, linked to ecology, the protection of living things, and the very personal visual language of the French artist.
Cheerful figures that are not merely decorative.
The larger of the two bears is called Ted Hyber. As Sortiraparis reminds us, this character first appeared in Fabrice Hyber's work in 1998. His name combines "Teddy Bear" and the artist's surname. He belongs to the "Hyber Heroes" family, a collection of mutant, humanoid figures that have appeared in his work for years. According to explanations relayed by Connaissance des Arts, these characters function as alter egos, each embodying a way of being in the world, an awareness, or a behavior.
The 10-meter green bear, already shown in Shanghai in 2025 according to Sortiraparis, features one of Fabrice Hyber's signature colors. This green directly evokes chlorophyll, vegetation, and life itself. It is presented as a totemic and protective figure, both joyful and optimistic. Beside it, a second, 5-meter transparent bear, named Ted Hyb'Air and produced specifically for Art Paris 2026 according to Sortiraparis, suggests a refuge from outdoor pollution and a kind of symbolic oxygen reserve.
An installation linked to the spirit of Art Paris 2026
Fabrice Hyber's presence extends beyond these outdoor sculptures. Sortiraparis notes that he is also among the 21 artists selected for the thematic exhibition Babel – Art and Language in France, conceived by Loïc Le Gall. Connaissance des Arts, for its part, emphasizes that this exhibition, a central feature of the 2026 edition of Art Paris, explores how artists work with signs, words, and systems of representation. The selection of Fabrice Hyber is therefore a natural fit within this reflection, as his work has developed a highly identifiable visual language for over thirty years, situated at the intersection of art, science, and nature.
These two giant bears are thus less a simple, regressive wink than an artistic gesture clearly visible in the public space. Connaissance des Arts even emphasizes that their appearance on the forecourt of the Grand Palais is more of an ecological statement than a mere surprise. With them, Fabrice Hyber creates an immediately accessible, almost childlike image, yet one imbued with a very real contemporary concern: the environmental crisis and the need to protect life.
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