Patrick Mimran

Patrick Mimran (born 1956 in Paris, France) is a contemporary French multimedia artist, composer, and the former CEO of Lamborghini. He is most widely known for Lamborghini's turn-around in the early 1980s and his art exhibit, "The Billboard Project".

Lamborghini: 1978-1987
Before becoming an artist, Patrick Mimran was the owner and CEO of Lamborghini. In 1981, at the age of 24, Mimran and his brother, Jean Claude, purchased the company's failing assets for US$3 million. The brothers had purchased the company out of receivership by 1984 and began investing heavily in the company's expansion, developing a comprehensive restructuring program. Under the Mimrans' management, Lamborghini's model line was expanded from the Countach to include the Jalpa sports car and the LM002 off-road vehicle. Patrick served as CEO until 1987 when he sold the company to Chrysler.

Multimedia artist: 1990-present
After years as a successful businessman, Mimran turned to art. Mimran's artwork has ranged through media including painting, photography, video art, sculpture, and installations. Mimran's work has been exhibited in museums including the Leonardo da Vinci Museum for Science and Technology, Palazzo Venezia and Kunstpalais Erlangen, as well as festivals including the Venice Architecture Biennale, Art Cologne, Art Paris and Art Karlsruhe.

Musical composition
He also works in electronic music, composing the score for Maurice Béjart’s ballet Kurozuka[3] (performed at the Bunkan Kalkan Theatre, Tokyo)[4] and collaborating with Peter Greenaway. Mimran composed scores for Greenaway projects including the multidisciplinary film and art installation "Stairs 1 Geneva", the 1996 film, The Pillow Book, the 1996 public art event "La Cosmologia di Piazza del Popolo Roma", and the art installation, "In the Dark", which was featured in the 1996 exhibition, "Spellbound: Art and Film" at the Hayward Gallery of London. In addition to musical scores, Mimran has released four albums. Novels For The Moons (1981), his first album, was heavily influenced by German electronic pioneers and released on the imprint Lamborghini Records. He subsequently released Back to Earth (1983), Honni Soit – Qui Mal Y Pense (1987) with vocalist James Bowman, and Service Entrance (2017), a collection of soft piano music.

Sculpture
Mimran's "Jet Set Giraffe" sculpture, standing at 7.5 meters, is considered the tallest giraffe sculpture in the world. It was installed in the Monte Carlo's Grand Casino Garden from 2009 to 2013, when it was moved to its permanent home at the Colchester Zoo in Essex, England. The giraffe, made of glass fiber and steel, appears to be solid metallic silver but transforms into a silhouette lit by 214 colorful lights at night.

The Billboard Project: 2000-2012
Patrick Mimran is best known in the United States for his Billboard Project, a comprehensive series of billboards which he initiated in 2000 in London and later expanded to New York, Miami, Venice, and Tokyo. For the project, Mimran used advertisement billboards as a platform for short aphorisms that provided commentary about art and the relationships between artists, critics, curators and art dealers. The billboards attracted a fan base.

Wearable art
In 2015, Mimran turned 25 of his paintings into wearable art by developing the cashmere scarf line, Allezzou Fashion.

Digital art
Around 2017 Mimran developed the Aphos App, a digital rendition of his "Billboard Project" which allows users anywhere in the world to create their own boards with quotes, aphorisms, and comments about art, politics, news, fashion, music, or any subject related to their daily lives and interests.

Exhibits

 * 2013
 * L'art prend la ville !, DeFacto Gallery, La defense, Paris, France
 * Billboard Project, Istituto degli Innocenti, Mudi, Piazza SS Annunziata 12, Florence, Italy
 * GHOSTS, Recent paintings, Palazzo Malipiero, Ramo Malipiero, Venice, Italy
 * IN THE MIROR OF REALITY, La galleria, Venice, Italy


 * 2012
 * iRonic, Bietigheim-Bissingen
 * Trash Can Project, Campo san manuele, Venice, Italy
 * After, New Photographs, Palazzo Malipiero, Venice, Italy


 * 2011
 * Ironic. Die feinsinnige Ironie der Kunst, Kunstpalais
 * Patrick Mimran billboard, Palais Stutterheim, Erlangen, Germany
 * Patrick Mimran, Group Show, Galerie Dorothea van der Koelen
 * Art in movimento, La Galeria Venezia
 * After, New Photographs, Palazzo Malipiero, Venice, Italy
 * Patrick Mimran, Photographs, Art Paris 2011
 * Paul Ardenne, Realite revisitee, Analix Forever
 * Patrick Mimran, Billboard Project, Galerie Dorothea van der Koelen, Art Cologne
 * Patrick Mimran, Billboard Project, Galerie Dorothea van der Koelen, Art Karlsruhe


 * 2010
 * Nuit Blanche, Billboard project, Toronto, Canada
 * La Galleria, Photos of my billboard project, Dorothea van der Koelen, Venice, Italy


 * 2009
 * Trash Can Project, Campo san manuele, Venice, Italy, Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci
 * Patrick Mimran, Billboard project, Milan, Italy
 * Patrick Mimran, Billboard project, Galerie Dorothea Van der koelen, Italy
 * Les Photaumnales, Musee departemental de la haute-garonne, Beauvais oise France
 * Patrick Mimran, car park in New York


 * 2008
 * 11th Mostra internazionale di architecttura La biennale di Venezia, Billboards in the city, Venice, Italy
 * Patrick Mimran Billboard Project, Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, Milan, Italy
 * Prelevements Urbains, Le mois de la photo à Paris, Passage de Retz, Paris, France
 * Patrick Mimran “Temple Steps” recent photographs, Bay 100, Miami, USA


 * 2007
 * Billboard project, 24th 25th 26th street, 31, Chelsea, New York, USA
 * Recent Paintings Muramatsu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Billboard Project Tokyo, Japan
 * New York Parkings, Palazzo Malipiero, Venice, Italy
 * Trash Can Project, Campo san manuele, Venice, Italy
 * Lyon Billboard Project, Lyon, France
 * Brahmatic A video Installation, National Museum Leonardo da vinci, Milan, Italy
 * Recent paintings, video and photographs, Palazzo Venezia, Rome, Italy
 * Vertigo revisited a Video Installaton, Kent Gallery, Miami, USA Biennale de Florence, Florence, Italy


 * 2006
 * Installation video paintings and photographs
 * Brahmatic, Solo show, Moscow world fine art fair, Moscow, Russia
 * Billboard project, 20 billboards in Moscow, Moscow, Russia
 * Billboard project, 24th 25th 26th street, Chelsea, New York, USA
 * Billboard project, Bridge of the Academia, Venice, Italy
 * Billboard project, Piazza del Popolo, Roma, Italy
 * Billboard project, Museo d’arte moderna, Bologna, Italy


 * 2005
 * Billboard project, Bridge of the Academia, Venice, Italy
 * Billboard project 24th 25th 26th street, Chelsea, New York, USA


 * 2004
 * Brahmâtic, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, Italy
 * Altered states, The Milk Studio, New York, USA
 * Billboard project, Bridge of the Academia, Venice, Italy
 * Billboard project, 24th 25th 26th street, Chelsea, New York, USA
 * L’oeuf” 2nd international biennale of sculpture of Monte-Carlo, Montecarlo, Monaco


 * 2003
 * The Tower of Babel, Eggenberg Palace, Graz, Austria
 * Babel.TV" Group exhibition displaying, Graz, Austria
 * Discomatic, Espace Bellevue, Biarritz, France
 * Discomatic, Museo Valenciano de la Ilustracion y la Modernidad, Valencia, Spain
 * Billboard project Museo di Ca' Pesaro, Venice, Italy
 * Billboard project, 24th 25th 26th street, Chelsea, New York, USA
 * Paintings, Museo Nacional De Artes Visuales, Parque Rodó, Montevideo, Uruguay
 * Vertigo, Circulo de Bellas Artes Alcala 42, Madrid, Spain


 * 2002
 * Vertigo, The Game in 20th Century Art, Palacio de Montemuzo, Zaragoza Spain
 * Billboard project, 24th 25th 26th street, Chelsea, New York, USA
 * Jet Set Giraffe, The Parade of Animals Second edition of the International Sculpture, Festival of Monte-Carlo Jardins du Casino, Monte Carlo, Monaco
 * Vertigo, Games in the Art of the 20th century, Espace Bellevue, Biarritz, France


 * 2001
 * Babel.TV, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, USA
 * Babel.TV, Orangerie de Bagatelle, Paris, France
 * Billboard Project, West 24th and West 26th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues, Chelsea, New York, USA


 * 2000
 * Paintings for billboard, Cromwell Road, London, Great Britain
 * First Baby, Walking Man, From Rodin to Mimran, Jardin du Palais Royal, Paris, France
 * Walking Man, From Rodin to Mimran, Lange Voorhoot, The Hague, The Netherlands


 * 1999
 * Recent Paintings, Marlborough Gallery, New York, USA
 * The rhythm of time, The Almodin, Valencia, Spain


 * 1996
 * Paintings, Marlborough Gallery New York, NY


 * 1971
 * Sweet Murder, Galerie Laudann, Lausanne, Switzerland
 * Sweet Murder, Maison des jeunes et de la culture, Thonon les bains, France