Born in Nice, France (1980).
Lives and works between Brussels, Belgium and Nice, France.
Using materials traditionally used in construction (plasterboard, sheet metal, lead), Florian Pugnaire’s practice is concerned with the physical properties of these, their resilience, their persistence … measured by “mechanical stress”—a term often used in material science to evaluate the elastic and plastic capacity of an element to absorb torsion, tension or pressure effects. Florian Pugnaire relies on certain material specificities in his practice, such as the flexibility of the lead, the strength of the metal, or the fragility of plasterboards, to which he imposes a force, a labor, often causing the materials to their breaking point. For this, the artist uses mechanical tools such as straps, winches, hoists and hydraulic cylinders that are often integral to the work.