CENTRO PECCI Prato

Anne Poirier, Marseille, France, 1942 - Patrick Poirier, Paris, France, 1942. Live and work a Paris.

After studying at the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and after several trips to the east and the far east and in U.S.A, Anne e Patrick Poirier won the Prix de Rome in 1967 and moved to the Villa Medici in Rome, remaining until 1971. At the beginning of their stay in Rome they decided to work together, giving up their respective personal “egos”. Continual exchange of ideas, of roles, the divising and creation of works that were the result shared reflections. No longer isolated artists locked in their studios in search of autonomous languages and unknown cultures. Having got rid of the conventional labels of sculptor or painter they took on the role, interchangeable and replaceable in accordance with the requirements of the projects or journeys, of archaeologist and architect. No longer formal research but an approach to the behavioural sciences, to history, as a way of understanding and carrying out research into Memory, firmly convinced that in man’s fundamental means of protecting himself, whereas contempt, violence and intolerance among people set out from ignorance and the destruction of memory. To combate that generalised amnesia, the two artists employ the instrument of Art itself. Some of their most prestigious exhibition have been solo shows: at Neue Galerie-Samlung Ludwig, Aachen (1973), Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin (1977), Centre George Pompidou, Paris (1978), Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels (1978), MOMA, New York (1978), The Brooklyn Museum, New York (1984), Museum Moderner Kunst, Wien (1993), Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2000). They have taken part in the most significant international events: Biennale des Jeunes in Paris (1973), Venice Biennale (1976, 1980, 1984), Documenta in Kassel (1977), Istanbul Biennale (1987), Biennale de Lyon (2000) and Biennale de La Havanne (2006).