Claude Gilli

Claude Gilli (1938-2015) was a French artist known for his involvement with the Nouveau Réalisme movement. He played a significant role in establishing the École de Nice alongside artists such as Arman, Ben, César, Yves Klein, Martial Raysse, and Bernar Venet. 

Claude Gilli's Art Style

Traveling between Nice and Paris, Gilli was captivated by the emerging wave of American culture, including jazz, cinema, and artists like Mark Rothko.

Starting in 1961, Gilli worked on his acclaimed Ex-voto and Souvenir series. These pieces incorporate found objects such as family mementos, salvaged photographs, and kitschy religious items, combined with popular 'Pin-Up' imagery in boxed votive offerings. The resulting assemblages, rich with fragments of memory, desire, and identity, evoke religious shrines dedicated to the everyday, personal identity, and consumer society.

After experimenting with new materials like Plexiglas and participating in unconventional happenings, such as painting snails and letting them roam across canvases, Gilli discovered his long-term medium: 3D wood cut-outs painted with car lacquer. His vibrant sculptural paintings, which feature women, consumer objects, and landscapes, are both provocative and poetic.