Wailing women in high heels armed with triple-pronged fangs,
hallucinatory visions of chickens, phantoms and fierce monsters, all
whimsically populate the creative universe of Petra Mrzyk & Jean-Francois Moriceau. Drawing is their forte, especially when presented in the form of a wall drawing or long black-and-white mural frescoes that jubilantly invade the spaces in which they exist. The French couple, who this year are guests at the prestigious P.S.1 studio in New York, have injected new life into a classical technique, proposing new dimensions to their works “à quatre mains” realized using the principle of interchange. Their murals associate the most diverse forms and objects upon a dynamic
background, placed “pell-mell”, without the bother of logic or a connecting thread. Hazardous imperfections, stair ramps and stage curtains opening onto other scenes, all of these provide pretext for the unraveling of stories and leave room for improvisation. Steeped with multiple references and surrealistic devices from “Pieds Nickelés” to media-dispensed images to the standardized world of tattoos, the work of this couple is a
never-ending surprise.


Petra Mrzyk (1973, Nuernberg, Germany). Jean-François Moriceau (1974, St. Nazaire, France).

Selected solo exhibitions: 2003: Marcus Ritter, New York; 2002: Art unlimited, Basel; Marcus Ritter, New York; 2001: Musée d’art moderne de la Ville, Paris; The Schnitt Ausstellgsraum, Cologne; Zoo, Nantes; 2000: Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France.
Selected group exhibitions: 2003: Dubrow International, Kravets/ Wehby, New York; Plus si affinité..., FRAC Poitou-Charentes, Angoulême, France; Studio Programm Exhibition, PS1, New York; Rythm is a dancer..., Kulturhuset, Gallery 5, Stockholm; 2002: Media-city, Museum of Art, Seoul; Drawing in motion, Forum Stadpark, Graz; Laura Pecci, Milan; 2001: Rock Paper Scissors, Francesca Pia, Bern; Blue Dragon, Air de Paris, Paris; Camoshow, Museum of Wiesbaden, Germany; 2000: Draw-up, Zoo, Nantes; AirAir, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco; I love Paris, Arnolfini, Bristol.