Claude Charlier

French artist Claude Charlier was born in Nancy, France. From his early childhood, Claude knew that art was his path in life. Initially he fell in love with the magic of photography, although he studied both music and fine art. His first job was working as a photographer for the French government. Soon after starting work, he landed a spread in"Paris Match".

In Paris, he continued with photography, working between Paris and London, but also collaborated with Shuji Terayama, writer and director of the Tenjo Sajiki and with Suzuki Tadashi, director of the Waseda Shogekijo. With them he co-wrote and directed "Laurence de Paris", and fell in love with the Japanese culture. Shortly after he decided to move to Tokyo, Japan. The move was pivotal. While growing his photography career, Claude also worked as an art director for four years in Tokyo, creating international campaigns for major Japanese corporations.

Even once his photographic client list grew to include an impressive list of the world's major corporations and publications, and awards began to roll in, he still pursued other artistic interests. He did TV shows for the Japanese networks and helped create and launch magazines such as "Tokyo Journal", "Vu" and "G" magazine, as well as create a weekly comic strip. His work lead him to travel all over the world for many years, and it was on one of these trips that he literally ran across his idea for this series of paintings... a crushed discarded soda can.