Philippe Parreno

Philippe Parreno is a French artist born in 1964.

He is part of a generation of artists that worked at Anna Sanders Films, such as Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster or Pierre Huyghe. The starting point of his work is the universe of cinema, television and of show business in general. Cinema codes, time and narration are recurring issues in his work that he always refreshes with new ideas and projects.

He had numerous shows and installations, showing objects such as a Christmas tree, a neon mural, mannequins or balloons hanging from the ceiling. His most recent show was presented by the Air de Paris Gallery, on rue Louise-Weiss, in the 13 arrondissement in Paris and it contained all the codes of theater and show business, but reinterpreted and hijacked.

Philippe Parreno works on the idea of the gap between the various representations of images, at the border between reality and fiction. He creates a tension between these two aspects in order to hijack their hidden meanings.

In 2004 he produced, in collaboration with British artist Douglas Gordon, a film made during a complete football game, only showing the portrait of football icon Zinédine Zidane. The film is called Zidane, a portrait of the 21st century. It only shows the minor actions and gestures of the football player throughout a league game with Real Madrid at the Santiago Barnabeu stadium.