Vincent BARRÉ

Vincent Barré,  is a sculptor and filmmaker who was born in Vierzon in 1948. He currently lives and works in Paris, Normandy, and the Loiret. From 1995 to 2011, he held the position of head of studio at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Barré studied architecture in France and the United States from 1967 to 1975, under the architect Louis Kahn and the engineer Robert Le Ricolais. During these formative years, he travelled extensively throughout Europe, America and Asia, discovering works of art and architecture in their natural settings. As part of a multidisciplinary team working with the CNRS, he conducted an urban study of the royal town of Panauti in Nepal. From 1975 to 1982, he practised architecture in partnership with Patrick Berger, designing social housing projects, refurbishments, and the conversion of the Théâtre le Palace in Paris.

From 1982 onwards, he gave up this work to devote himself to sculpture. In his early period, he created assemblages of wood and metal. In 1989, building on his cut-out papers and monotypes, he produced monumental steel sculptures cut from thick plates. Around 1999, he discovered the sand-casting technique for aluminium and iron pieces using lost polystyrene moulds. This gave his sculptures the monumental scale he was seeking whilst also leading him to refine his forms. He produced groups of these sculptures, which were exhibited in outdoor spaces or displayed in museums alongside direct-wax bronzes, terracotta works, and drawings. From 2014 onwards, creating large-scale bronze sculptures using the lost-model technique with wood and wax opened up a new range of forms for him, enabling him to produce monumental bronze works.

Over the years, he has worked on public projects with architects such as P. Berger, P. Chemetov, B. Huidobro and B. Gaudin. Since 1988, he has been a councillor for the town of Amilly in the Loiret, where he has focused on urban development initiatives. In collaboration with S. Dubuisson, he established the Monument to those shot at La Nivelle in 2002. In 2013, he completed the significant Place de Nordwalde complex. He has also created works in China, including at the TAFA Art School in Tianjin in 2009 and in Shunde Park in Ronggui, Guangzhou, in collaboration with the Sino-French P’Art Foundation in 2015. In 2014, he won a competition to design the Colonne de rameaux sculpture to honour the Compagnons de la Libération at the National Assembly in Paris.

In 1995, he was invited by the DAP to produce his first films, reflecting his viewpoint as a sculptor and his travels. His collaboration with the visual artist and filmmaker Pierre Creton, and the establishment of a studio in Pays de Caux, led him to frequently co-direct short films with Creton. These films have been showcased at the FID in Marseille and at various festivals throughout Europe, as well as in his exhibitions. Initially, he assisted the sculptor Georges Jeanclos at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, later becoming coordinator of the sculpture department and the Master's programme. He then served as head of the workshop from 1995 to 2011. He has directed numerous projects and exhibitions, sometimes alongside his friend and colleague, Richard Deacon, including in Havana (1996), Solukhumbu, Nepal (2000), Amilly, Loiret (2003 and 2006), Mumbai (2004), Bamako (2008) and the Quartier de la Muette in Drancy (2010 and 2011). He has also conducted workshops at various art schools and institutions, including the Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai, India (2001), the New York Studio School (2016), and the Parc International des Cévennes (2019).