Claude Gilli

One of the prominent exponents of the Ecole de Nice and considered to be the only real French pop artist along with Martial Raysse. He was born in Nice on September 15, 1938. He attended the school of decorative arts in the city, where he met the same Raysse. In 1958 with the latter and Albert Chubac, he was part of a collective exhibition the "Laboratoire 32", at the gallery of Ben Vautier.

In the 1960s, Gilli collaborated with the creation of the Nouveau Réalisme movement as one of the most active exponents. In recent years, he has developed the first set of relief panels, made of carved wood (with the blessing of Arman, giving him an electric saw) and dominated by blue color.

His dedication to art is such that in the New Year's Eve of 1962, he burned almost everything he had produced so far. In the following years, even under the influence of American Pop Art, his subjects abandoned the frame, with the first "collate”, a middleway between sculpture and painting. His constant search will lead him to experiment at first with the abandonment of color, with "phantom" plates made of transparent plexiglass, and finally the use of snail shells for the creation of sculptures.

He died in June 2015: his work is set to become a variegated artistic work, emerges from the figure of an artist who, in the historical context of Nouveau Réalisme and Pop Art, maintains his authenticity in Nice.