Bernard Piffaretti: Taipei Dangdai

For its first participation to Taipei Dangdai Art Fair, galerie frank elbaz is pleased to present a solo show by French artist Bernard Piffaretti. 

Since 1986 Piffaretti has committed his practice to the “duplication method” or “Piffaretti system”, abstract paintings that appear to be two identical halves, split through the vertical axis. One of the two parts is an attempt to duplicate the other, made beforehand. Once both panels are finished, the distinction between the copy and the original tends to fade. As the artist admits himself, “the repetition, act by act, on the second half of the canvas, can only produce an imperfect image”. Closer inspection does indeed reveal 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”.