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Gilles Pourtier

Born in 1980 in Romans-sur-Isère, Gilles Pourtier lives and works in Marseille. He began by studying Modern Literature, before embarking on a glassmaking course in Nancy at the Centre Européen de Recherche et de Formation aux Arts Verriers (CERFAV), which led to four years' work in London at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design University College and then at the Westminster Adult Education Service.

In 2006, he entered the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie d'Arles (ENSP), from which he graduated in 2009. During his years of study in Arles, he developed a personal body of work combining photography, multimedia and video. His approach is in a quasi-ethnographic vein.

It was by choosing to work in collaboration with a marble-maker that the artist came to understand the work of polished stone. First of all, the marble-maker provides him with funerary steles, on whose surface we can perceive our own reflection.

Private Choice presents its series of masks, also in marble stone. At the base of every washing machine, like a foundation, is a concrete block to stabilize the appliance when the centrifugal force of its rotation is too great. It is this surprisingly anthropomorphic geometric form that Gilles Pourtier has chosen to reproduce in marble. Instead of retaining the original position of the mechanical tool, he decided to straighten it, creating a curious face.

Biography

Gilles Pourtier was born in Romans-sur-Isère in 1980. He lives and works in Marseille.

TRAINING

  • Studies in Modern Literature
    CERFAV (Centre Européen de Recherche et de Formation aux Arts Verriers), Nancy Surrey Institute of Art and Design University College, London
    Westminster Adult Education Service, London
  • 2006 - 09 / ENSP (Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie), Arles

PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS

  • 2022 -2023 / Filiations 2 & the the Albers-Honegger Donation, Espace de l'Art Concret, Mouans-Sartoux
  • 2021 - 2022 / Appearance structures, Point du Jour, Cherbourg
  • 2021 / Rodeo Sauvage, Château de Servières, Marseille
  • 2018 / Deucalion and Pyrrha, La Cartine, Marseille
  • 2017 / A home is not a house, Straat Gallery, Marseille
  • 2013 / Vztahy (exhibition following creative residency), Kosice, Slovakia
  • 2011 / Un peu plus loin de l'autre côté de la rue des néons clignotaient deux fois moins vite que mon coeur, La Compagnie, Marseille
  • 2011 / La grande surface de réparation, 3bisF, Aix-en-Provence

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2022 / Lignes de vie / Life lines, Private Choice, Paris
  • 2021 / Odyssée / Odyssey, Private Choice, Paris
  • 2020 / Voyage intérieur / Inner journey, Private Choice, Paris
  • 2019 / Affinities / Affinities, Private Choice, Paris
  • 2016 / They shoot horses, they don't demolish barns, L'Escaut, Brussels
  • 2015 / Exhibition of the Prix des Résidents des Ateliers de la Ville de Marseille, Friche Belle de Mai, Marseille
  • 2013 / Maintaining material things, Forum Kunst & Architektur, Essen, Germany
  • 2012 / Ceux qui arrivent, Le Bal, Paris
  • 2012 / The virgin, the perennial and the beautiful today
  • 2009 / Une attention particulière, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d'Arles

RESIDENCES

  • 2022 / Residence Marbrerie Anastay, Saint-Remy-de-Provence
  • 2013 / Creative residency in collaboration with photographer Anne-Claire Broc'h, February and October on the islands of Batz and Ouessant
  • 2013 / Creative residency (European Capital of Culture 2013) , Kosice, Slovakia
  • 2011 / Research residency at 3bisF, Aix-en-Provence
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