02 In Search of the Missing Artist | The Plastic
4/17/202634 min
The only clue to Jean Paul Mangin's true identity is hiding in his art. Unlike everything else about the elusive French sculptor, the material he works with is right there for anyone to see — giant, flat sheets of plastic, in vivid colours and glossy finishes. Perhaps if reporter Julia Bergin can find out where they're coming from, she can find him too. And it’s that trail that leads her to a noisy factory floor, where another artist has been making strikingly similar work for years.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Madison Connaughton· Host0:36
[gentle music] Hey, Julia Bergen. Welcome back to the Background Briefing studio.
Julia Bergin0:46
Madison Connaughton, it's good to be here.
Madison Connaughton· Host0:48
So we are in week two now of In Search of the Missing Artist.
Julia Bergin0:52
That's right, week number two.
Madison Connaughton· Host0:54
And last time you were looking in Australia, you were looking in France. You couldn't find this internationally acclaimed French artist, Jean-Paul Mangin, anywhere.
Julia Bergin1:06
Not a trace.
Madison Connaughton· Host1:06
So you're still searching for him?
Julia Bergin1:08
I am.
Madison Connaughton· Host1:10
Okay. Where to next?
Julia Bergin1:11
[gentle music] We're going to Western Sydney to a plastics factory. I've got my face pressed up against a small window, a bit like a child at the zoo, and I'm staring into the guts of this giant industrial oven. And that's when the timer goes off.