Martin Bissiere (1962)

Martin BISSIERE is born in Paris in 1962. He grows up in a family of artists who play an important role in the twentieth century art: his father is none other than Louttre B. - himself the son of Roger Bissière - his maternal grandfather was Louis Latapie. In spite of that Martin Bissière follows his own path. At first he studies music, then finally turns definitely to printmaking and painting. After a figurative period, influenced by artists like Markus Lüpertz or Georg Baselitz, Martin Bissière gradually moves towards abstraction related to the theme of violence, whether accidental or mimetic. He is strongly marked by the theme of mimetic violence theorized by anthropologist René Girard (who does not cease to seek the own vulnerabilities of Western humanism, to pursue the precarious footsteps of another rationality, which are able to rethink human destiny).

For Martin Bissière, abstract images, by their very existence, are an alternative to violence. Stressing the need for gesture and accident, the work of Martin Bissière is mainly related to energy, in orther words the transcription of visual feelings, here and now, with indifferent violence. The artist repeats the ritual of modernity, extracts its own quintessence (the sacred footprint of man).

Since the late 80s, Martin Bissière has regularly exhibited his work in France (Paris, Bordeaux, Nogent-sur-Marne, Balazuc Abbey in 2007, Villefranche de Rouergue in 2008) and abroad (Germany, Luxembourg, Sweden). The artist is also involved in many collective canvas hanging, including the Salon of New Realities (Salon des Réalités Nouvelles) of which he is a member. In addition to his personal artistic activity, Martin Bissière teaches painting workshops at the School of Fine Arts in Paris since 1993.

« Painting is a lifestyle, and, as such, inseparable from a form of professionalism. Professionalism implies attendance, recognized expertise and inter-relationships with other professionals. For an artist, the goal of professionalism is to develop concentration, energy, sensitivity ... and learn a profession associated with risk taking. There is a competition between the works. They struggle to survive and the successful canvas is an unstable paradise, ogled by images constantly moving. In our conditioned-governed aesthetic societies, painting, like other practices, is affected by some form of communitarianism which isolates and induces it all together. In the first case, the artist is the victim, in the second, he is the beneficiary, his voice is able to be heard in the concert of rivalries, » writes Martin Bissière.