I first entered the world of Pierre Prevost in 2000. His home, called Combarel (“little hollow”), is on several acres of forested land in the little-known region of southern France called Aveyron. Just a few miles away are the caves of Lascaux and Peche Merle where prehistoric artists painted their environment and their imaginings.
For over twenty-five years, Pierre has lived off the land and off the detritus of man, giving new life and purpose - practical and artistic - to discarded objects he finds in junkyards and flea markets of the surrounding villages. He is a sculptor, drawer, painter, craftsman, engineer, architect...and he lives a life of austerity in order to create his special, unique environment.
Pierre´s sculptures, drawings and mixed media art owe something to the French art brut, but transcend any attempt to categorize them into one tradition or another. They are joy-filled, whimsical, self-revelatory...and capture the essence of the artist and a special world that he imagines and recreates around him.
In fall of 2008 and 2010 I spent time in Pierre´s world. I brought my camera and my sound equipment and took fifteen hours of raw video footage. I accompanied Pierre as he staged performance art on a beach in Sete, around a cattle watering hole on a farm in the country, and along a dusty road leading to a small cooperative vineyard.
Click here to visit Pierre´s website:
