Gérard Deschamps

Gérard Deschamps (born 1937) is a French contemporary artist associated with the Nouveau réalisme movement.

Career Deschamps was born in Lyon, France. His first exhibition took place in 1955 at the Gallery Fachetti in Paris. At this time he abandoned traditional oil painting techniques, which he said lacked flexibility, and turned to making collages 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 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 patterns.

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, balloons, skateboards 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