# 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".

## Biography
### Business
#### 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.

### Art
#### 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 (performed at the Bunkan Kalkan Theatre, Tokyo) 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