Born in 1966 in Vientiane (Laos), died in 2002 in Nice, aged 36. Trained in textiles and jewellery, in the 1990s he developed “Créatures” in silk and beads,…
Born in 1966 in Vientiane (Laos), died in 2002 in Nice, aged 36. Trained in textiles and jewellery, in the 1990s he developed “Créatures” in silk and beads, then a mechanical bestiary, the “Bestioles”, and in 1995 made his only film, Sans titre, sang titre, cent titres. “Bruno Pélassy is a protean artist: draughtsman, sculptor, couturier… Born in 1966 in Vientiane (Laos), he died at the age of 36 in Nice. In his work, he explores and develops a poetics of life and death linked to the AIDS virus, which he contracted in 1987, when he was barely 21. In the 1990s, AIDS had already been a reality for nearly a decade; artists and activists seized the subject and its violence. In this context, Pélassy inscribes his work politically (through the imagery to which it refers) and in a sensitive and formal way (through the use of metaphors, staged figures or the play of the techniques employed). His work is as dark as it is sensitive and clear-sighted, romantic and luminous. An icon of his generation, he deeply influenced a whole generation of artists.” Marie Canet From around 1990 he began making jewellery, then, borrowing from the register of the sacred, he came to make impossible adornments magnificently interlaced with glass and crystal beads, exhibited in reliquaries. He then took up this work for haute couture and produced a collection of jewellery and accessories. From 1994 he became interested in the small electronic mechanisms distributed by the toy industry to create a strange animated universe, populated by disturbing “Bestioles”. Howling or whining, these creatures conceal their malformations or unease beneath amusing and reassuring finery: the softness of the furs they are often adorned with, bright colours, elegance of line or roundness of form. Their movements are futile and tragic, their cries, stimulated by the viewer, comical and offbeat. Then come the “Créatures” which, from 2001, are displayed in aquariums: graceful organic forms made of silk, beads and silicone.