Patrick Blanc                  
Eco-installation artist
What do Qantas’ First Class Lounge, Taipei Concert Hall, a robe by Jean-Paul Gaultier and Istanbul’s Private modern art museum share in common?  The answer is Patrick Blanc’s works.

Patrick Blanc is an eco-installation artist who is highly celebrated in recent years. With his unique Vertical Garden (Vegetal Wall), he simulated complete ecological systems.  His works redeemed and transformed the urban cement forest, and conjured up scenes of incredible beauty for infrastructures.  The works reverberate the whole world‘s attention towards environmentalism and conservation, and also addressed urbanites’ deep yearning to be in touch with nature.

Blanc's most famous works is the opening of Quai Branly Museum, Paris, in June 2006.  Blanc developed the vertical garden wall through collaboration with architect Jean Nouvel, the resultant rhapsody of real plants stood out as a grand piece of modern installation art that blended the face of nature with architecture.   Blanc’s extraordinary works can be found in cosmopolitan cities around the world including Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Madrid, Brussels, Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo and Taipei.

Blanc harboured intense interests towards plants at a young age.  He went on to study this discipline and researched on how plants managed to grow on rocks or in forest underbrush.  Since then, he travelled the tropical rainforests around the world and observed these plants for many years.  Through research, he discerned the patterns of vertical plant growths and developed patented watering systems, in addition to the technology on having plants develop their roots on vertical structures. Being an amalgamation of ecology and art sustained by simulated ecology , Patrick Blanc believed that the ‘Vertical Gardens’ will bring city dwellers closer to nature by introducing nature into architectural space. 

Blanc was born in Paris in 1953. Prior to becoming an artist, he continued to be a world-renowned expert in subtropical forest plants, a professor of botany at Jussieu University, and a French National Academy of Sciences (CNRS) researcher.  Due to his extraordinary research, Blanc was awarded multiple times by the country of France, science institutes and architectural associations.

Short version
Patrick Blanc is a highly celebrated eco-installation artist who created Vertical Garden that simulated ecology.  His works reverberate the whole world‘s attention towards environmentalism and conservation, and also addressed urbanites’ deep yearning to be in touch with nature.

 

Patrick Blanc 
生态装置艺术家
Qantas机场贵宾室、台北国家音乐厅、Jean-Paul Gaultier的时装和伊斯坦堡现代美术馆有甚么共通点？答案是──Patrick Blanc的艺术作品。

Patrick Blanc是近年炙手可热的装置艺术家，他以独特的直立式绿墙装置，创造了一种拟自然的完整生态系统，改变了当前水泥墙林的都会空间及建构都会的景象，并呼应近年全球对于环保和自然议题的重视，以及都市里的人们与植物亲近的深层渴望。

Blanc最著名的作品是于2006年6月在巴黎开幕的庞丽码头博物馆(Quai Branly Museum）。他与建筑师Jean Nouvel合作，透过以植物制作的环境装置艺术，将自然与建筑巧妙相融合。 世界各大都会如巴黎、纽约、洛杉矶、马德里、布鲁塞尔、曼谷、汉城、东京及台北等，都有Patrick Blanc不同凡响的作品。

Blanc从小就对植物花草有浓厚兴趣。他继而研究隐藏在森林下或是攀植在树干及岩石上的花草植物，自此开始游走世界各地的原始热带雨林，多年来观察及对照千万种花草植物。透过不断研究，他开始发展出植物的直立式生长模式，并开发了一套专利灌溉系统，加上让植物垂直固定在墙面上的技术。Patrick Blanc认为透过将生态、艺术结合的「垂直花园」(Vertical Garden)，利用「拟自然环境系统」，使大自然环境进入建筑空间，让都市里的人们可以和植物更亲近。

Blanc出生1953年于巴黎。在成为艺术家之前，原本是世界著名亚热带森林植物专家，巴黎Jussieu大学的植物学科教授及法国国家科学院(CNRS)的研究员。Blanc凭借其独特研究，屡次获得法国国家、科学界及建筑界的奖项 。

Short version
Patrick Blanc是近年炙手可热的装置艺术家，他以独特的直立式绿墙装置，创造了一种拟自然的完整生态系统，呼应了近年全球对环保的重视，及都市人与植物亲近的深层渴望。