Bernard Piffaretti

Bernard Piffaretti was born in 1955 in Saint-Etienne, France and lives and works in Paris. Since 1986 Piffaretti has committed his practice to the "duplication method", abstract paintings that appear to be two identical halves split through the vertical axis. Closer inspection reveals moments of differentiation: the inclination of the brushstrokes, the number of drips, the weight of the hue. "The duplication clouds the origin of the time of the work. All supremacy is abolished, and that is the subject of my painting".

Piffaretti has had solo exhibitions at Kate MacGarry, London (2022); Blanc International Contemporary Art Space, Beijing (2021); Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris (2020); Lisson Gallery, New York (2019); Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles (2018);  KLEMM’S, Berlin (2016); Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles (2015); Musee d’art modern de Saint- Etienne, France (2009); Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France (2008) and Cheim & Read, New York (2002), among others. Recent group exhibitions include Repetition, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France (2023); The Double: Identity and Difference in Art since 1900, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2022); FRAC Bretagne, Rennes, France (2019); Kunstverein Schwäbisch Hall, Germany (2017); Abstraction/Figuration, Musée des Beaux Arts de Rennes, Rennes, France (2015) and Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva, Switzerland (2010).

Piffaretti’s work is included in the collections of Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Fondation Musée d’art moderne Grand-Duc-Jean, Luxembourg; Fonds national d’art contemporain, Paris; FRAC Bretagne, Rennes, France; MAMCO, Geneva, Switzerland; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, Nantes, France and National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. amongst others.