Pierre and Gilles
Pierre Commoy, known as Pierre, was born in La Roche-sur-Yon in 1950. He studied photography in Geneva.
Gilles Blanchard, known as Gilles, was born in Le Havre in 1953. He studied at the Beaux-Arts in Le Havre.
They live and work in Pré-Saint-Gervais.

Pierre and Gilles began working together in 1976; their work became inseparable from their lives. They collaborated on the magazine Façade, created posters and invitations for Le Palace in Paris, where their images were projected. They worked in fashion, designed album covers for Étienne Daho, Lio, Indochine and Amanda Lear, and made music videos for the band Mikado, among others. In 1981, they developed their method: preliminary drawings for theatrical productions; set design; lighting; make-up and posing sessions. Pierre took the photographs and Gilles retouched them with paint. Their creations were followed by a single photographic print and specific framing. They worked in series and produced baroque images, ‘illusionist and mimetic representations', mainly portraits. Their portrait gallery includes both anonymous individuals and collectors, actors, musicians and singers. Their work straddles popular culture and iconography, sex and religiosity, humour and references to art history. Internationally renowned, their work features in major collections. .

Pierre et Gilles ont dit :  « La réalité n'existe pas, mais nous vivons dans le réel. À chacun de se créer son monde. Dans le nôtre, il y a du rêve et du bonheur, mais aussi du désespoir. Nous traitons du sida, du naufrage, de la douleur, de la pauvreté. Nous photographions un condamné, des garçons des banlieues. En revanche, tout est dit avec douceur, ce qui, il est vrai, ne cadre pas avec la photographie contemporaine. Nous faisons de la poésie en images. »