Born on January 9, 1955, Jean-Pierre Frey followed in the footsteps of his father, a painter, in the Montmartre district of Paris – a sort of French artistic nursery. The smells of oil paints, turpentine, art magazines and books filled the small family home-studio and formed the stimulating universe in which the budding artist grew up. Gifted with a natural talent for drawing, Jean-Pierre could not stand constraints; it was therefore quite natural that at a very young age, he began to draw portraits of passers-by, Place du Tertre, in the artistic heart of Montmartre.
The artist never stopped improving himself. His activity in Montmartre left him a lot of free time, so he enrolled in evening classes at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, rue Bonaparte in Paris, where he acquired a solid classical foundation. At this time, his passion for sailing was also born, and he took advantage of each winter to set off to discover new horizons, new landscapes, new encounters and new sources of inspiration. In 1991, his application was accepted by the Europ’art Geneva Committee (the major International Art Fair in Switzerland). A year of work and all his savings were needed to prepare this exhibition, where he mainly presented figurative works. This was the real beginning of his artistic career. On the occasion of this exhibition, he was approached by many famous art dealers with whom he disrupted the routine practices of the profession – which returned the favor – because he quickly became one of the five best-selling painters in France. In 1994, while he was exhibiting at Artexpo New York, the Fort Lauderdale Museum in Florida acquired one of his works.
In 1997, a key year for him, Jean-Pierre met Caroline. She already knew the artist since she sold his works in the gallery she ran in Megève. The day they met, Caroline's keen eye, through his paintings, had already pierced Jean-Pierre's armor and was able to touch the man hidden there. They would never leave each other again. The year 2000, the year of the new millennium, was also the year of a new life. They both stopped their professional activities and left, as a family, on a sailing trip around the world. After the Bahamas, they went to Florida in 2003, where the children were in school. Jean-Pierre took the opportunity to add a new string to his bow and graduated from the Faux Effects interior design school (Vero Beach - Florida) after two sessions (Designer One and Designer Two).
In 2005, during a stopover in the Dominican Republic, amazed by the possibilities of the country, the jack-of-all-trades trained in carpentry, cabinetmaking and marquetry and then created a line of furniture that he designed and made himself. He opened his art gallery "Elementos" at the Marina de Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, to present his new work. Success was immediate. In the meantime, he was an artist in residence for three months at La Escuela de Diseño, Altos de Chavón, a school affiliated with the Parsons School of Design in New York. From 2012 to 2014, Jean-Pierre sailed in the Caribbean crescent and worked on his travel notebooks - collages, drawing, pen, calligraphy, acrylic, watercolor, etc. - which determined his style today.
Caroline and Jean-Pierre Frey arrived in Polynesia in 2014. Both fell under the spell of the population and were impressed by the landscapes they discovered. The well-being conveyed by the warm welcome and kindness of the people they met on each island where they landed, as well as the colors of the lagoons, the beauty of the valleys and the reliefs gave Jean-Pierre the desire to paint again, who also found a new source of inspiration there. In 2016, after almost a year of preparation, studies, reflections, research and hard work, their new Studio-Gallery -BORA BORA ARTIST STUDIO- was finally ready to welcome all art lovers on the edge of the Vaitape lagoon, in Bora Bora. Caroline and Jean-Pierre invite you to discover their paintings on canvas and lithographs made during their travels in the Caribbean, Tahiti and Bora Bora as well as furniture made by Jean-Pierre in the Dominican Republic. For the pleasure of the eyes or to extract a marine anecdote from these two adventurers, go to Artist Studio.
The artist never stopped improving himself. His activity in Montmartre left him a lot of free time, so he enrolled in evening classes at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, rue Bonaparte in Paris, where he acquired a solid classical foundation. At this time, his passion for sailing was also born, and he took advantage of each winter to set off to discover new horizons, new landscapes, new encounters and new sources of inspiration. In 1991, his application was accepted by the Europ’art Geneva Committee (the major International Art Fair in Switzerland). A year of work and all his savings were needed to prepare this exhibition, where he mainly presented figurative works. This was the real beginning of his artistic career. On the occasion of this exhibition, he was approached by many famous art dealers with whom he disrupted the routine practices of the profession – which returned the favor – because he quickly became one of the five best-selling painters in France. In 1994, while he was exhibiting at Artexpo New York, the Fort Lauderdale Museum in Florida acquired one of his works.
In 1997, a key year for him, Jean-Pierre met Caroline. She already knew the artist since she sold his works in the gallery she ran in Megève. The day they met, Caroline's keen eye, through his paintings, had already pierced Jean-Pierre's armor and was able to touch the man hidden there. They would never leave each other again. The year 2000, the year of the new millennium, was also the year of a new life. They both stopped their professional activities and left, as a family, on a sailing trip around the world. After the Bahamas, they went to Florida in 2003, where the children were in school. Jean-Pierre took the opportunity to add a new string to his bow and graduated from the Faux Effects interior design school (Vero Beach - Florida) after two sessions (Designer One and Designer Two).
In 2005, during a stopover in the Dominican Republic, amazed by the possibilities of the country, the jack-of-all-trades trained in carpentry, cabinetmaking and marquetry and then created a line of furniture that he designed and made himself. He opened his art gallery "Elementos" at the Marina de Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, to present his new work. Success was immediate. In the meantime, he was an artist in residence for three months at La Escuela de Diseño, Altos de Chavón, a school affiliated with the Parsons School of Design in New York. From 2012 to 2014, Jean-Pierre sailed in the Caribbean crescent and worked on his travel notebooks - collages, drawing, pen, calligraphy, acrylic, watercolor, etc. - which determined his style today.
Caroline and Jean-Pierre Frey arrived in Polynesia in 2014. Both fell under the spell of the population and were impressed by the landscapes they discovered. The well-being conveyed by the warm welcome and kindness of the people they met on each island where they landed, as well as the colors of the lagoons, the beauty of the valleys and the reliefs gave Jean-Pierre the desire to paint again, who also found a new source of inspiration there. In 2016, after almost a year of preparation, studies, reflections, research and hard work, their new Studio-Gallery -BORA BORA ARTIST STUDIO- was finally ready to welcome all art lovers on the edge of the Vaitape lagoon, in Bora Bora. Caroline and Jean-Pierre invite you to discover their paintings on canvas and lithographs made during their travels in the Caribbean, Tahiti and Bora Bora as well as furniture made by Jean-Pierre in the Dominican Republic. For the pleasure of the eyes or to extract a marine anecdote from these two adventurers, go to Artist Studio.
Jean-Pierre and his father, Maurice Frey - Place du Tertre (Montmartre, Paris - 1970s)
