Dr Tony Shaw: Art brut

Showing posts with label Art brut. Show all posts

13 August 2021

Roger Mercier in Damerey (71), Saône-et-Loire (71)

Libellés : Art brut, Damerey (71), Mercier (Roger), Saône-et-Loire (71)

Roger Mercier (1926-2018) died at the age of 92. His Château Bresse et Castille in Damerey, as the work of an untaught artist (created in his retirement between 1984 and 2000, a plaque announces) is a classic work of Art Brut and the building since 2017 is now a 'Monument historique'. A number of animals, including birds, can be seen on the facade. The influences here, as the name of the 'castle' suggests, are essentially Burgundian and Castilian. For some years this place has been neglected, although there are plans afoot to restore the artwork and turn the building into gîtes.

16 March 2020

Rémy Callot, Carvin, Nord (62)

Libellés : Art brut, Callot (Rémy), Carvin, Nord (62)

Rémy Callot was born in 1926 in Oignie into a working-class family. At the age of fourteen his forearm was blown away by a grenade he was playing with. He became interested in ceramics, travelled around the world immersing himself in different cultures and learned to speak Chinese. In 1966 he bought a property in Carvin, with a concrete exterior surrounding the house. On retirement in the late 1980s he began work on the exterior with these mosaics. He died in 2001 and his property went to seed. The town hall bought the property in 2006, collecting as many objects as it could before necessarily destroying it.