Gérard Deschamps (born 1937) is a French
contemporary art
Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...
ist associated with the
Nouveau réalisme movement.
Career
Deschamps was born in
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
, France. His first exhibition took place in 1955 at the Gallery Fachetti in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. At this time he abandoned traditional
oil painting
Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...
techniques, which he said lacked flexibility, and turned to making
collage
Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...
s that incorporate pictures of items from
Manufrance catalogs. In 1957, he exhibited at the Galerie du Haut Pave in Paris paintings made of rags and pleating and in November that year, he was sent to
Algeria
Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
for 27 months of military service.
Back in Paris, in 1960 he met
Raymond Hains and
Jacques Villeglé and officially joined the
New Realist group in 1961 (a year after its official founding). That year he began using U.S. Army tarps with fluorescent colors in his work. He also worked with rags from Japanese and Belgian advertising, as well as sheets of plastic kitchenware patchwork. In the same period, he also used armor plates and metal enclosures that served to isolate aircraft engines.
In 1965 he created ''bananas'', made of folded and colored wire, which can be up to 8 meters long and can produce
moiré pattern
In mathematics, physics, and art, moiré patterns ( , , ) or moiré fringes are large-scale wave interference, interference patterns that can be produced when a partially opaque grating, ruled pattern with transparent gaps is overlaid on ano ...
s.
In 1970 Deschamps moved to
La Châtre, home of his grandparents.
Since then, his creative activity is ongoing, and he shows in exhibitions and galleries in Paris and abroad.
In 1980, Deschamps produced playful outfits made of assemblies of
swimwear,
balloon
A balloon is a flexible membrane bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. For special purposes, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), ...
s,
skateboard
A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. It is usually made of a specially designed 7–8-ply maple plywood deck and has polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks.
The skateboard ...
s and
surfboards, which bring
Pop Art to mind. In the 1990s, he created colorful
beach ball blends packed in nets, and then, in 2001, skateboards.
Main exhibitions
*1955: Galerie Fachetti, Paris
*1957: Galerie Colette Allendy, Paris
*1962: Galerie J, Paris; Galerie Ursula Girardon, Paris
*1963: Galleria Appolinaire, Milan
*1964: Galerie Florence Houston Brown, Paris
*1965: Galerie Ad Libidum, Anvers
*1966: Galleria l'Elefante, Venise
*1979: Galerie Dominique Marches, Chateauroux
*1988: Galerie Le Gall Peyroulet, Paris
*1990: Galerie Le Gall Peyroulet, Paris
*1991: Galerie Le Gall Peyroulet, Paris
*1993: Galerie Der Spiegel, Cologne
*1998: Fondation Cartier, Paris
*1998: Galerie de La Châtre, Paris
*2000: Galerie de La Châtre, Paris
*2002: Galleria Peccolo Livorno
*2002: Galerie de La Châtre, Paris
*2003: Musée de l'Hospice Saint Roch, Issoudun
*2004 Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole
*2005 Château d'Ars La Châtre; Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans
*2006 Le Safran Amiens
*2007 Galerie de La Châtre, Paris
*2008 Musee des ARTS DECORATIFS Paris
*2009 ''Châteauroue'', manifestation d'art contemporain à Châteauroux
*2009 ''solo show'' FIAC Paris galerie Martine et Thibaul de La Châtre
*2011 Lieu D Art Contemporain L Arboretum Argenton sur Creuse
*2012 Wave Attack; l Identité Remarquable Orleans
*2013 Deschamps / Hains Musée de l Hospice Saint Roch Issoudun
*2013 Deschamps / Maucotel Lieu D Art Contemporain Montlucon
*2014 Deschamps : Ma Premiere Galerie Paris
*2016 Du Passé Au Present : Galerie Gilles Peyroulet Paris
*2018 Paris Art FAIR Galerie Grimont
*2018 ''Skate Boards et Street Art'' Luxembourg Art Fair
Sources
* ''Dictionnaire de l'art moderne et contemporain'', nlle. éd., Paris, Éditions Hazan, 2006, 194 pages (French)
www.gerarddeschamps.org(French)
* ''Gérard Deschamps, homo accessoirus'', interview with Hélène Kelmachter, Actes Sud, 1998 (French)
* Gerard Deschamps, ''Retrospective'', Musee de L Hospice Saint-Roch Issoudun et Musée des Beaux Arts de Dole
* Gerard Deschamps, Galerie Martine et Thibault de La Chatre FIAC 2009
* Gerard Deschamps, L Arboretum Lieu d Art Contemporain Argenton Sur Creuse 2011
* Gerard Deschamps, Editions du Regard 2017
* Gerard Deschamps, Editions Art Passion Luxembourg Art Fair 2018
External links
Non official website dedicated to Gérard Deschamps, in French, with many pictures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deschamps, Gerard
1937 births
Living people
Artists from Lyon
French contemporary artists