Pierrick Sorin

Pierrick Sorin, It's Very Nice, (installation view), 1998

Pierrick Sorin, Pierrick et Jean Loup (installation view), 1994 

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Pierrick Sorin (b. 1960 in Nantes, France) is a performance artist who has used video to document his work. In his earlier performances Sorin often explored his own sexuality, working with the video camera as a voyeuristic partner. The dysfunctional behaviour displayed in these solitary investigations was disturbing to watch and yet distinctly humorous.

In a sequence of performances entitled Pierrick et Jean Loup (1994), Pierrick Sorin documented fictional confrontations between himself and his invented twin brother (alter ego) Jean Loup.

These domestic scenarios often developd into extremely violent actions that only avoid being distasteful by virtue of their Loony Toons absurdity. Sorin’s performances as a clown are very funny – his on-camera persona is somewhere between Mr Bean and Marcel Marceau. In spite of this comic aspect the characterisations of the two brothers would lend themselves well to clinical analysis.

Pierrick Sorin at Liverpool Biennial 1999

Pierrick et Jean Loup, 1994
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie J. Rabouan Moussion, Paris

It's Very Nice, 1998
Video installation
Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne/Centre de Création, Industrielle, Paris