Poirier Anne & Patrick Biography
Anne and Patrick Poirier (1941, 1942 - ) born in Marseille and Nantes respectively, after numerous trips to the East, the Middle East and the United States, studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. They won the Grand Prix de Rome and settled at the French Academy of Villa Medici, in Rome, from 1968 to 1972. Multidisciplinary artists combined their ideas, putting time at the center of their work, reflecting on historical brutality, the fragility of human beings, cultures and related methods of transmission. Memory is recognized as a key component for security and is often contrasted with contempt, aggression and intolerance, realities that arise from the annihilation of memory itself. The monumental works in marble, bronze and aluminum that were created in the 1970s linked to archaeological sites, contemporary or imaginary are followed by the enormous photographs and intricate installations that emerged in the 1990s, which highlight the theme of the ephemeral, of fragility and the meaning of memory. I am able to work anywhere in the world thanks to aesthetic investigation which becomes a real approach to humanistic and historical studies.
The Art Institute of Chicago, the Getty Research Institute of Los Angeles, the Center Georges Pompidou of Paris, the Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art of Prato, the Brooklyn Museum of New York, the MACRO of Rome are just some of the prestigious locations where they expose. They participate in numerous international exhibitions, such as the Venice Biennale in 1976, 1980 and 1984, Documenta in Kassel in 1977 and last but not least, in 2018 at Manifesta 12 in Palermo. The Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, 2022; the Musée de La Roche-sur-Yon, 2022; the MRAC-Musée régional d'art contemporain Occitanie, Sérignan, 2021; the Abbaye du Thoronet, 2021; and the French Academy - Villa Medici, Rome, 2019 are just some of the venues that have hosted their recent exhibitions.
