Paris-based chef Pierre Gagnaire has developed a distinct artistic signature with food as his medium. Compiling ingredients as a means of storytelling, he communicates the complexities of his plates through taste and presentation – allowing the palette to discern new understanding and emotions, while constructing a complete sensory experience through dining.

As head chef of the eponymous Pierre Gagnaire restaurant at Paris’ Hôtel Balzac, co-founder of London’s Sketch, and culinary director for Trần Anh Hùng’s 2022 film The Taste of Things, the multi Michelin star-awarded chef has made his name through an iconoclastic interpretation of French cuisine, rooted in the art of transformation. For this episode of Inner Worlds, Pierre Gagnaire invites Art Basel and director Cyprien Bourrec into the kitchen of his Paris restaurant GAYA, illustrating the passion and artistic intention that underpins his avant-garde gastronomic approach.

Visually positioning his kitchens to allow for instinctive movements within them, Gagnaire channels his fascination with painting into a sense of expression that translates to his plates, applying individual elements as if writing poetry. Citing Daniel Buren, Henri Rousseau, Cy Twombly as influences, he details how art and the notion of balance play heavily in his craft, enabling culinary experiences that defy expectations through artistic presentations that push the limits of cooking as an artform.