Nicole Peyrafitte

Nicole Peyrafitte (born June 18, 1960) is a Pyrenean-born pluridisciplinary artist living in New York City. She considers herself a "Gascorican" (an American from Gascony).

Early life and education

She was born in Luchon (French Pyrenees) into the 5th generation of a family of restaurateurs and received her early cooking training from her grandfather Joseph Peyrafitte, a renowned chef. Later she perfected her skills, interning at several award-winning restaurants in France. She moved to the United States in 1987, where she developed her career as a collagist, painter, singer, poet and filmmaker. She lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn with her husband Pierre Joris, where she moved in 2007 after 15 years in Albany, New York. She has two sons, Joseph Mastantuono and Miles Joris-Peyrafitte.

Career

Her work in visual art and action painting, research and poetry, film and video art, music and cooking draws upon her eclectic history and the experience of negotiating her identity across two continents and four languages.

Peyrafitte’s work has been presented nationally and internationally. In New York, she has performed in venues such as The Poetry Project, Bowery Poetry Club, Bard College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, The Vision Festival and Poets House. National venues include San Francisco State University, University of California San Diego, Walker Art Center, Boise State University & Naropa University as artist/teacher in residence. Internationally, Birbeck college, University of London, University of Edinburgh, Université de Bordeaux, Festival les Voix de La Méditerranée in Sète, Festival de San Luis Potosi (Mexico) and Festival International de la Lettras, Durango (Mexico) are some of the venues that have showcased her performances.

She has collaborated with, among others, with Laurie Anderson, Michael Bisio, Pierre Joris, Anne Waldman, Devin Brahja Waldman, Connie Crothers, Pascal Delalée and Miles Joris-Peyrafitte.

Concerning her work, poet/performer Anne Waldman has written: "Nicole Peyrafitte is a brilliant and most original performer. Her vocalizations, her songs, her gestures are provocative: both stunningly beautiful and powerfully unnerving at times. She is the chthonic goddess come to tempt you, scare you, transform you. She is in the poetic lineage of Greek tragedy, Café Voltaire antics, of dada and surrealist play but with a post-modern, hip sensibility. I am transfixed when she's on stage."

Publications

• Carnet 2 (RedfoxPress Ireland, 2018)
• Landsc0pes (Plaine Page, 2018)
• The Book of U / Le livre des Cormorans, with Pierre Joris (Galerie Simoncini Editions, 2017)
• Bi-Valve (Stockport Flats, 2013 & Plaine Page, 2016)
• Liminal Thread (Editions les Venterniers, 2016)
• Carnet (RedfoxPress Ireland, 2014)

Museum Collections and Exhibitions

• Three floors exhibition & live performance Peyrafitte/Joris: Domopoetic Works at Simoncini Gallery, Luxembourg, featuring her longtime collaboration with poet and translator Pierre Joris.
• Two Action Paintings were included in the collections of the Musee du Luxembourg and the Musee National de la ville de Sète in 2018.

Discography

• Bi-Valve (Plaine Page, 2015)
• Whisk! Don’t Churn! with Michael Bisio (Ta'wil Productions, 2009)
• The Bi-Continental Chowder (Ta'wil Productions, 2006)

Filmography

• Basil King: Mirage (2012), co-directed with Miles Joris-Peyrafitte on painter, poet & Black Mountain student Basil King (painter and poet).
• Things Fall Where They Lie (2018)

External links

• Collectages / Recordings of Foods & A®titudes”
• Official website