Philippe Perrin, (Grenoble, 10 August 1964) is a French artist and contemporary photographer who lives and works in Paris.
Philippe Perrin was born in 1964 in La Tronche. Graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Grenoble, his work has been the subject of many gallery and museum shows, including his retrospective at the Maison Européene de la Photographie, at the Fondation Maeght, as well being sold in public auction, including the work 'Couteau' sold by Sotheby's Paris in the sale 'The Secret Garden of Marianne and Pierre Nahon' in 2004.
Since the 1980s, Philippe Perrin has been an unconventional figure on the international art scene, known for his short temper and bad-boy image, exploring the inter merging of reality and fiction, evoking in his work symbols of violence taken from a variety of genres, such as crime fiction, cinema, or popular culture, notably he pays with the question of scale of the object, such as the revolver or a razor blade.
His fascination with fictional characters or symbols of the underworld : the gram of coke becomes a kilogram, or a razor blade, a revolver and other symbols of violence are presented on a large scale. For the French art critic Nicolas Bourriaud, "Perrin is a manipulator of signs, interpreting the relationship between reality and fiction through a question of scale, treating in the same manner the relation between a true biography and that of the figure of a celebrity."
A work representative of Perrin's language of allegory-visual suggestion his "Skyline": seven ball cartridges of variable sizes respect the measures of the space where they are inserted, forming a front: first line of a fighting army or a skyscrapers seafront.
Main solo shows
2014 : " Kung Foo Cowboy ", Incognito Artclub, Paris.
2013 : " Kill Me ", Recreation of the 1993 performance, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris.
2012 : " Under the gun ", Musée Maillol, Paris, France.
2010 : " Haut et Court ", Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris, France.
2009 : " Philippe Perrin ", Gallery Albert Benamou, Paris, France.
2009 : " Agrandissements ", Gallery Maeght, Paris, France.
2006 : " Heaven ", monumental installation for the Nuit Blanche.
2006 : " Shootingstar ", Xin Dong Cheng Gallery, Beijing, China.
2004 : " Philippe Perrin Superstar ", Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke, Belgique
2001 : " Poupestroy ", Gallery R&L Beaubourg, Paris, France.
1997 : " Les Mystères de Paris ", Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris, France.
1997 : " Rendez-vous au ciel ", Gallery R&L Beaubourg, Paris, France.
1989 : " La Panoplie ", Philippe Perrin at the Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France.
Main group shows
2015 : " Chercher le garçon ", Contemporary art museum of Val-de-Marne · ·
2014 : « Les Invendus », Albert Benamou Collection, Museum of Le Carroi and Hôtel de Ville.
2014 : " Invasao criativa ", Cidade Matarazzo, Sao Paolo, Brazil .
2013 : " Maison européenne de la photographie ", Paris, France.
2013 : " L'Œil d'un collectionneur ": Serge Aboukrat, Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris.
2012 : " Cibles ", Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris.
2012 : Marlborough Gallery, Monaco (artist group show including Picasso, Miguel Chevalier, François Morellet, Chu Teh-Chun etc.).
2012 : " Group show ", Galerie Maeght, Paris.
2012 : " Biennale de La Havane ", Cuba, (11th edition).
2012 : " 50 artists, one collection ", Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence, France.
2006 : " Sculptures en plein air ", Xin Dong Cheng Gallery, Beijing.
2005 : " Autour de la photographie ", Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris.
1996 : " La Colère ", The Pompidou Centre, Paris.
1995 : " Passions privées ", Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris.
1994 : " Hors limites ", The Pompidou Centre, Paris.
1993 : " Krieg (guerre) ", Triennale of photography, Graz.
1992 : " Ligne de mire ", Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain.
Maison européenne de la photographie
2010 : Always the Sun, "Catalogue déraisonné 1986 – 2010", Texts by Nicolas Bourriaud et Jean Nouvel,
