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Juan Stoppani (1935) & Jean-Yves Legavre (1946)

"My art is popular, I am inspired by what I see on the street, the graffiti on the walls, then I pass it through geometry… all my work has to do with geometry".
Juan Stoppani

After graduating as an architect in 1962, Juan Stoppani attempted to begin a career in that field, but soon felt the need for other means of expression. He started to make ceramic objects and papier mâché dolls, which attracted the eye of like-minded young artists and designers, that introduced him to the bustling new art scene, which during the 60s centered around the Visual Arts Center of the Di Tella Institute, which favored a Pop aesthetic and pursued an interdisciplinary approach that aimed to seamlessly merge art with everyday life.

In those years, his work -whether in painting, sculpture, objects or scenography-, became recognizable as a festive burst of bright colored geometric shapes, in clear contrast with the solemn discourse built around geometry during the previous decade.

In 1969 Stoppani settled in Paris, where he designed costumes for Jean Louis Barrault, Jerôme Savary, Roland Petit and Jorge Lavelli among others, and participated in the French-Argentine theater group TSE. While collaborating with playwright Copi in a play about Eva Perón directed by Alfredo Arias, he met Jean-Yves Legavre, a French scenographer, costume designer and theater director.

Together they became a creative duo, venturing into fashion (designing for Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel), set design, theater, opera, painting and ceramics. Filled with stars, spots, stripes, circles, triangles and squares in colorful combinations and dynamic compositions, they have achieved a signature style that is persistently vibrant and joyful.

They live and work together in Buenos Aires.