CO WORK SPACE

Born in 1935, Paris, France. Died in 1995, Paris France. ​

Michel Journiac emerged in 1969 as one of the leading French artists of his generation, a key figure in body art alongside the Viennese Actionists (Hermann Nitsch, Rudolf Schwarzkogler), Gina Pane, Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman and Chris Burden. Michel Journiac's art is an art of revolt, militant and subversive. His paintings, actions, videos, photographs, sculptures, mailings, contracts and scenic devices use the body as material and question the society that conditions it. His protean work cuts across all the artistic practices of his time. ​

He Studied theology at the Catholic Institute and aesthetics at the Sorbonne in Paris. Joined the seminary in 1956 and taught French literature in Damascus, Syria, between 1960 and 1962, the year he left the seminary. 1965: First paintings, Alphabet du corps, Signes du sang. 1968-1969: First installations and actions (Parcours - Piège du sang, Cloître des Billettes, Paris, 1968; La lessive, Galerie Daniel Templon; Piège pour un voyeur, Galerie Marc Martin Malburet; Messe pour un corps, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, 1969). ​

Denounced the death penalty in 1971 with Piège pour une exécution capitale (American Center, Musée Galliera, Paris) and began his research into the transvestite body (1972: Hommage à Freud; Piège pour un travesti; 1974: 24 heures de la vie d'une femme ordinaire, Galerie Stadler, Paris). 1972-1973: series of Contracts (Contrat pour un corps; Contrat de prostitution, Galerie Stadler, Paris). 1976-1986: Rituals series (Rituel du sang, Galerie Diagrama, Milan; Rituel pour un mort, Galerie A. Zerbib, Edition de la différence, Paris; Rituel pour un autre, Galerie Stadler, Paris, 1976; Rituel de corps interdits I, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; II, Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm; III, L'autre Musée, Brussels, 1981; Rituel Initiatique, Galerie Michel Vidal, Paris, 1986). 1983: Action de corps exclu (Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris) and action de Marquage, repeated in the last major cycle Rituel de transmutation, du corps souffrant au corps transfiguré (1993-1995, Collège Marcel Duchamp, Châteauroux; Galerie J. & J.Donguy, Paris; Musée d'ArtContemporain, Bilbao).​

His work is held throughout the world, notably in France in public collections (Centre Georges Pompidou, Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; MAC-VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine; Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Strasbourg; FRAC Aquitaine, Champagne-Ardenne, Limousin, Les Abattoirs - Toulouse, I. A.C. Villeurbanne; FDAC Seine-Saint-Denis) and private collections (including the Pinault Collection, Paris) and abroad (I.V.A.M., Valencia, ES; Sammlung Verbund, Vienna, AT).​

Recent solo exhibitions by Michel Journiac include : Galerie Christophe Gaillard in collaboration with Galerie Loevenbruck, Paris, 2018; Le Transpalette, Bourges, 2017; Maison Européenne de la Photographie