La Fabrique des Idoles

Pierre et Gilles

Pierre et Gilles is the artist name of the couple of French artists and photographers Pierre Commoy and Gilles Blanchard. They are mostly famous for their elaborate portraits in life-size sophisticated and colorful sceneries and backgrounds. They build these sets themselves in their own artist studio. An additional painting work finishes the art pieces once the original print has been printed, usually on large-format canvasses. This implies that the works of art are initially « unique » pieces. Their work is very much inspired by pop culture and gay culture, as well as religion. The portraits are those of their friends and relations, celebrities or not. They have worked mostly in the music world - French music mainly, but not only - and the artists portrayed include Sylvie Vartan, Etienne Daho, Madonna, Stromae, Lio, etc. They also worked in the fashion world (Jean-Paul Gaultier, Naomi Campbell, Paloma Picasso) and the film industry (Charlotte Rampling, Rossy de Palma, Laetitia Casta, Isabelle Huppert), among others. Many retrospective publications have been published about their work since the eighties. More recently (2019), they published "La Fabrique des Idoles" with Editions Xavier Barral. © Raphaël Lugassy for French magazine Les Inrockuptibles