Jean Charles Blais

Jean Charles Blais, born in 1956, in Nantes, France, is an artist who studied at the Beaux-Arts de Rennes from 1974 to 1979. He gained recognition in the art world in 1981 after participating in the exhibition "Finir en beauté" curated by Bernard Lamarche-Vadel, which marked the emergence of a new generation of artists who freely expressed themselves across various art forms, cultures, and values.

Blais gained notable success in the early 1980s for his paintings created from discarded materials such as torn posters, newspapers, and other unconventional items found on the streets. In his paintings, he highlights the slightest imperfections and unevenness of the materials, and his works are characterized by a focus on the representation of the figure. It was also at this time that he sparked the curiosity of Catherine Issert, whose gallery, based in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, has accompanied him for the last 40 years.

Blais had his first solo exhibition in 1982 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bordeaux, which was followed by a solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 1987. Blais' works have been exhibited at various galleries and museums worldwide, including the Yvon Lambert Gallery in Paris, the Castelli Gallery in New York, and exhibitions in cities such as Rome, Amsterdam, London, Basel, The Hague, Vienna, and Munich. His works are part of many prestigious collections, including the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Pompidou, the MAMAC in Nice, and the Picasso Museum in Antibes.