Miguel Chevalier

Biographical Data

Born in Mexico in 1959. He lives and works in Paris. Miguel Chevalier settles in Paris in 1985 and studies in the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and in the École des Arts décoratifs. He also gets a degree on Art and Archaeology from La Sorbonne. He completes his formation in the Pratt Institute and in the School of Visual Art in New York (1984-1985) and in the Institute des Hautes Études en Arts Plastiques (IHEAP) in Paris. His first individual exhibition takes place in 1985. At the end of the 80’s he becomes one of the pioneers in numerical art. He exhibits with the Fractalists, movement theorized by Susan Condé and Henry-François Debailleux.

Brief Chronology

Since his beginnings, Miguel Chevalier consecrates himself to an experimental art that takes into account technologic innovations and mutations. He talks about using “new technologies as others use their brushes. They are not the purpose but a means of living in the world that surrounds us”. He works with the CNRS and uses computer programs to “disintegrate” images he prints on reinforced glass. In his pioneering infography studio, he creates anamorphosis and metamorphosis, reflecting on the concepts of natural and artificial. He works with movement, light, color; and draws, takes pictures, creates videos and three dimensional numerical images. His images are transposed to a variety of fragments, of hybrids, of combinations (Baroque et classique series, 1985; In vitro series, 1986). In the 90’s he starts designing interactive video installations, in two and three dimensions, and sometimes done on a monumental scale (Paysage artificiel, 1992; Pensée numérique, 1997; Croissances et mutations, 1999; Crossborders, 2007). In 2000 he creates Habiter les réseaux for the Palais des Congrès in Paris, a huge installation made up with 24500 red leds that turn on and off or blink depending on the number of visitors. Since 2003 he shows a growing interest in biotechnologies and genetics and imagines pieces in constant change from computer programs that create plant hybridizations by means of genetic algorithms. For Sur-Nature, virtual plants or flowers “combinations painted with transparency”, fluorescent, grow, day after day, in real time on plasma screens or projected on the floor and walls.

P.L.T.

www.miguel-chevalier.com

galeries :

www.suzanne-tarasieve.com

www.numeriscausa.com

www.kunstverket.no

Chevalier

Sur-Nature, Graine n°11, 2005, Interactive reality installation. Plasma screen 50 in., computer, one movement sensor