Patrick Beurard-Valdoye


Patrick Beurard-Valdoye, is a French poet from Paris. He is also an art critic.

Biography

A childhood spent in the Belfort region, gave Beurard-Valdoye exposure to German language and culture, including local dialects often associated with geography and local water courses and their various names. The proximity of the Swiss border enabled repeated visits to the Basel Kunstmuseum which made a lasting impact as did a visit early in his life to Le Corbusier's Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut.
During his studies at the University of Strasbourg in the early 1970s he discovered Dada art, especially work by Hans Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp. In 1980, he moved to Lyon where was co-founder of an arts magazine, Cahiers de leçons de choses. Simultaneously he was a contributor to the journal Opus international, and became involved in curating exhibitions and writing catalogues of post-war German artists. He started the Revue parlée de l’ELAC, 1983-1988 and founded the "l’Ecrit-Parade".
Patrick Beurard-Valdoye is on the staff of the l’École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon.
He attributes his career inspiration to a stay in Cork, Ireland in 1974.

Poetic style

His major project is primarily focused on a series entitled, "cycle des exils", an epic, composed so far of seven published volumes. His style is to emphasise the similarity between significant historical events that are chronologically separated, as it were a recurrent polyphony that challenges traditional linear ways of presenting history. The poem, "the saga" progresses by gathering together references to oral history, anecdotes and authorised versions. His influences have included Kurt Schwitters, Ghérasim Luca, Oskar Pastior Bernard Heidsieck and the all but forgotten Jean-Paul de Dadelsen.

Works

Le Cycle des exils