Bernard Piffaretti

Bernard Piffaretti developed his own unique artistic technique that uses repetition to explore the elements of painting and artistic production. His “Piffaretti system” entails creating two seemingly identical panels, one representing an original and the other a recreation. Separated by a vertical strip, differences between the original and the duplicate dissolve. Works like Untitled (2021) employ this technique as they convey the impossibility of recreating artistic expression; repetition as such can only create a rudimentary version of the original. Piffaretti applies his system in recreating his paintings as drawings, switching around the idea of preparatory drawings. Piffaretti studied at the École Supérieure d’Art et Design de Saint-Étienne. His works are in museum collections such as the Centre Pompidou, National Gallery of Art, and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes.