Born in 1964 in La Tronche, near Grenoble, Philippe Perrin studied in the 1980s at the École des Beaux-Arts de Grenoble with Philippe Parreno, Dominique…
Born in 1964 in La Tronche, near Grenoble, Philippe Perrin studied in the 1980s at the École des Beaux-Arts de Grenoble with Philippe Parreno, Dominique Gonzales-Foerster and Pierre Joseph. His work, in which action and reality collide, borrows the codes of sporting, police, social, religious and intimate violence; photography is treated there on the same footing as sculpture, drawing, video or installation. Born in 1964 in La Tronche, near Grenoble, Philippe Perrin studied in the 1980s at the École des Beaux-Arts de Grenoble with Philippe Parreno, Dominique Gonzales-Foerster and Pierre Joseph. The artist made his mark on the international art scene with works in which action and reality collide, using the codes of sporting, police, social, religious and intimate violence. Subversive and provocative, Philippe Perrin’s work calls our relationship with art into question. François Villon, Caravaggio, Louis Mandrin, Arthur Cravan and Mesrine form a sulphurous pantheon that feeds his inspiration. Inventing for himself a black and gilded legend, Philippe Perrin is the dashing figure of a world where fiction and reality mingle. Guns, razor blades, handcuffs, giant knives and crowns of thorns are so many sculptures radiating the Perrin galaxy. Photography is treated there on the same footing as sculpture, drawing, video or installation. It is the skewed mirror that draws the self-portrait of an artist who is by turns a hoodlum, a brigand, a boxer, a victim. “I like my works to give the impression of taking the viewer hostage. Indifference has no place. The only way to come out unscathed is reflection, whatever each person’s culture. It is intelligence that can help us get out of this tight spot, or physical and mental harmony with the object concerned.” NUNCHAKU, 2014 Wood, stainless steel 270 x 26 cm (x2) RITA, 2010 Silver gelatin print. 120 x 90 cm
