Jean-Charles BLAIS

Biography

Born in 1956 in Nantes, France.

After studying at the School of Fine Arts in Rennes, he gained international prominence in the early 1980s alongside Robert Combas and others as a leading figure of “Figuration Libre” (Free Figuration), a movement that emerged as a reaction against traditional and conceptual art. In 1990, he created a massive mural project covering the entire walls of the Assemblée Nationale station in the Paris Métro (which was later renewed in 2004 and 2013), becoming a symbolic presence of contemporary art in French public spaces. He currently lives in Paris and works in both Paris and Vence (Southern France).

A REMAKE (IN MY EMPTY FORMER STUDIO), 2000

Superposition – after Morton Feldman and Philip Guston, 2002 
DVD with sound

Selected Solo Exhibitions

1982: CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux
1982: Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris
1983: Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
1984: Galerie Buchmann, Basel
1984: Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1984: CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux
1987: Centre Pompidou – Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris
1988: Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes, Nîmes, France
1988: Satani Gallery, Tokyo
1990: Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland
1991: Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, Munich
1994: Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
1995: Galerie Buchmann, Cologne
2000: Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya
2000: Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo
2002: Galerie Yvon Lambert, le studio, Paris
2003: Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya
2003: Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo
2004: Miracle, Musée Réattu, Arles, France
2005: Empty words, Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo
2010: Galerie Catherine Issert, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
2013: Musée Picasso, Antibes, France
2016: Superposition, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin

Selected Group Exhibitions

1982: L’Air du temps, Museum of Contemporary Art, Nice
1982: 7th Paris Biennale, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris
1984: Aperto 84, Venice Biennale, Venice
1984: An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
1985: French Contemporary Art – 12 Artists in Space, Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo / Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki
1986: Correspondentie Europa, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam
1991: L’Amour de l’Art, Biennale de Lyon, Lyon
1992: Manifeste, Centre Pompidou – Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris
1993: Four Artists from France, Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin / Institut Français, London
1995: Passions Privées, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris
1996: Monument et Modernité, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris
1996: Thinking Print, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
1997: Made in France, Centre Pompidou – Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris
1999: The Dream of the Body, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto / Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT), Tokyo
2002: Uniques, Musée Jenisch, Vevey, Switzerland
2005: French Contemporary Art Week Special Exhibition, Residence of the French Ambassador to Japan, Tokyo
2006: Acte 2, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Monaco
2008: Retour de Rome, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
2010: CAPC, ou la vie saisie par l’art, CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux
2011: Observadores – Revelações, Trânsitos e Distâncias, Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon
2011: Nouvelles acquisitions, de Artaud à Trouvé, Centre Pompidou – Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris
2012: Video Salon, Maison Populaire, Montreuil, France
2013: Die digitale Linie – Jean Charles Blais (mit Christoph Brech), Schaustelle, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
2014: Autour du legs Berggreen, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMAC), Nice
2015: Figuration Libre, historique d’une aventure, Musée Paul Valéry, Sète, France
2016: Takashi Murakami’s Superflat Collection: From Shōhaku and Rosanjin to Anselm Kiefer, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama

Projects

1996: The Telephone Booths (Outdoor Project), The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
2004: La chambre double, Assemblée Nationale Métro Station, Paris
2010: 100 Eleventh Avenue (Collaboration with Jean Nouvel), New York
2014: Sechs songs d’amour (Exhibition of books by Jean-Charles Blais), Jean Nouvel Design, Paris

Public Collections

Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, France
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA
Tate Modern, London, UK
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany