Nicole Peyrafitte

Nicole Peyrafitte is a Pyrenean-born multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY.

Her work in painting, action painting, writing, film, video, music, and cooking draws upon her eclectic history and the experiences of shaping identity across two continents (Europe and the United States) and four languages (French, Occitan, Spanish, English).

Her performances often include food cooked live and served to the audience as sustenance, from whipping cream, crepes and soups, to full dinners.

Nicole Peyrafitte 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, action-painter, singer, poet and filmmaker.

She lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn since 2007 after 15 years in Albany, New York, and before that in Encinitas, California, where she met her husband, poet Pierre Joris.

She has two award-winning sons: colorist & producer Joseph Mastantuono and director Miles Joris-Peyrafitte.

Though Nicole Peyrafitte has no formal art training —except for two painting courses in the early 90s with renowned painter & close friend Dawn Clements—, she has been practicing yoga for over 20 years, bikes & kayaks regularly — all activities linked to her research & work.

Nicole Peyrafitte's work has been presented nationally and internationally.

In New York, she has performed in venues such as The Poetry Project, Zinc Bar, Bowery Poetry Club, Borough of Manhattan Community College, The Vision Festival, Poets House and upstate at Bard College & numerous locations in and around Albany.

National venues include San Francisco State University, University of California, San Diego, Berkshire Community College, the Walker Art Institute, Bard College, The Kelly Writers House at Penn University, Boise State University & Naropa University as artist/teacher in residence.

Internationally, Birkbeck College, University of London, University of Edinburgh, Université de Bordeaux, Festival les Voix de la Méditerranée, CCA Glasgow, ENSA Limoges, Musée Soulage Rodez, Jardin des Cinq Sens et des Formes Premières, Festival Internacional de las Letras de San Luis Potosí, Encuentro Internacional de Performance en Durango, are some of the venues that have showcased her performances.

Her visual art works are part of the permanent collections of the Musée Paul Valerie Sète, Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art Luxembourg, Bibliothèque du Luxembourg, Glasgow Women's Library Museum and National Literature Centre of Luxembourg.

Since 2011, Nicole Peyrafitte has been working on an open-ended series of live performances which brings together her interests, preoccupations and multiple practices.

The KARSTIC-Action Paintings explore proprioception (the sense of body position) and kinesthesia (the sense of body movement) as meeting points between painting, poetry, voice and improvised music.

Following her intuition and bypassing a range of traditional inhibitions, Peyrafitte investigates the porosity of her consciousness and unconsciousness with, as tangible aim and outcome, a strong desire to reveal the immanent soul of that moment.

Most often the markings are done with the feet, either in hand-stand or head-stand, and/or with mouth-sprayed charcoals or other natural pigments (hands are rarely used to mark, except for smaller formats).

Each of these events is unique.

Action Paintings have been showcased at the Galerie Simoncini in Luxembourg, at the Salon Zürcher in New York, and are part of the public collections of Musée Paul Valerie Sète, Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art Luxembourg, Bibliothèque du Luxembourg, Glasgow Women's Library Museum and Centre de National Literature du Luxembourg.

Occitan to English

French to English

English to French