Deacon's sculpture is a dynamic blend combining dimensions of poetic metaphor and the physical experience of object, including where it is inscribed and how it is made. The artist goes back and forth between monumental scale and small format; he uses material as diverse as wood, steel or resin, and, beginning in 2001, ceramics, never attempting to mask the technical procedures behind the sculpture. The forms which emerge are representative of a biomorphic universe, something reinforced by titles that readily make reference to sensorial or verbal registers.

Deacon's work masters the union of form and language, thus falling within the scope of Arp's work. The exhibition has been mounted in close collaboration with the artist, who designed its scenography to produce a monumental sculpture specially created for the Museum of Modern and Contemporary arts' nave. Occupying 1,000 square meters of space, offering the visitor a retrospective of the piece since its beginning stages in the 1970's; the exhibit includes graphic work and archives of the first performances presented, shown here for the first time alongside his most recent pieces. It consolidates over a hundred works from the artist's workshop and private and public collections in France and around the world.