Anne et Patrick Poirier

Biography

Anne Poirier b. Marseille, France, 1941. Lives and works in Lourmarin, France
Patrick Poirier b. Nantes, France, 1942. Lives and works in Lourmarin, France

 

After their studies at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs, Anne and Patrick Poirier spent four years at the Villa Médicis in Rome. They decided to work together right from the beginning of their stay in 1968. Abandoning their respective egos, they united their ideas and sensibilities, and their works, which were signed jointly, became the fruit of this common effort. They were no longer solitary artists working in their workshops in search of a personal language, but travelers, site surveyors, discoverers of different civilizations, religions, and cultures (Far East, Near East, Middle East, Central America, the United States...). Refusing the conventional roles of “sculptor” and “painter,” they assumed those of “archeologist” and “architect,” roles that are interchangeable according to the circumstances. Theirs was no longer a question of formal research, but through an artistic approach grounded in the humanities, one of a voyage through memory, which they consider a fundamental value, the basis of any understanding between beings and societies. As children of war (Anne born in 1941 in Marseille, Patrick in 1942 in Nantes), they denounced the fragility of civilizations and cultures, and their esthetic is often that of the fragment, the ruin, or the catastrophe. As interdisciplinary artists, since over fifty years they have created a polymorphic and visionary body of works.


Their work appeared in the Venice Biennale in 1976, 1980, and 1984, as well as in the documenta 6 in Kassel in 1977. Numerous exhibitions have also been dedicated to them at some of the most prestigious institutions in the world, including the Pompidou Centre in Paris (1978), the MoMA in New York (1979), and, more recently, the Musée d'Art Moderne in Saint-Étienne in 2016, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris in 2017, the Villa Médicis in 2019, the Château La Coste and at the Abbaye du Thoronet en 2021 ore at the MRAC of Sérignan in 2022.

Works
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, Le jardin noir Domus Aurea, 1975
    Le jardin noir Domus Aurea, 1975
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, Mundo Perdido, 1983-2020
    Mundo Perdido, 1983-2020
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, Mundo Perdido, 1983-2020
    Mundo Perdido, 1983-2020
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, Mundo Perdido, 1983-2020
    Mundo Perdido, 1983-2020
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, Caprarola, 1984
    Caprarola, 1984
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, De la fragilité du pouvoir, 1986-2024
    De la fragilité du pouvoir, 1986-2024
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, Memoria Artificiosa, 1989
    Memoria Artificiosa, 1989
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, Mnémosyne, 1989
    Mnémosyne, 1989
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, Theater of Memory, 1991
    Theater of Memory, 1991
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, La Fabrique de la Mémoire, 2008
    La Fabrique de la Mémoire, 2008
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, Archives, 2013
    Archives, 2013
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, Archives, 2013
    Archives, 2013
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, Le Journal du Poète, 2019
    Le Journal du Poète, 2019
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, Gaia, 2021
    Gaia, 2021
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, La cité des ombres, 2022
    La cité des ombres, 2022
  • Anne et Patrick Poirier, L'orchidée de Chaumont, 2024
    L'orchidée de Chaumont, 2024
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