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Gilles
Mahé
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Gilles
Mahé was born in 1943, in Brittany. He was working
in the magazine industry, in advertising departments with
occasional forays into graphic design, when he decided
to travel in the U.S. for several months with his wife
Michèle and their children, selling travelogues
to the press. The inventory of documents and images that
he amassed as a result, combined with the desire to escape
from a traditional professional career, led him to another
way of working, whereby he divided his time between commercial
pursuits (stores selling decorative accessories and furniture)
and group exhibitions/events, using images, actions and
situations. (First shows: 35 avenue Foch, 1977
and 18 rue de Lourmel, 1978). With friends, he
founded a publishing company that put out Gratuit
(1979 to 1994) and other editorial projects. He forged
solid artistic friendships on the occasion of the exhibition
À Pierre et Marie (1982–1984). Combining
attitude art with publishing, image production, painting,
conceptual work using words and titles, public commissions
and gallery exhibition projects, he often worked in group
or participatory fashion, mounting such unique installations
as Extra rapide/Vite vraiment (Galerie Gaston/Nelson,
1983). By that time, he was active at the threshold of
art and mercantilism (Rendez-vous au bar, FIAC
de Paris, 1985). For 8 jours chez Samy Kinge (1987),
he recreated his living room in the gallery window. He
reproduced postcards of classical paintings as scanachromes
(Dix peintures de Gilles Mahé,1988). Invited
to the Villa Arson in Nice, he created Capital d’Essais
(1989), an interactive archival installation. He
worked for more than a year as an artistic company (Gilles
Mahé & Associés S.A., 1990) and
created Art/Gens at the Centre Pompidou (as part
of the exhibition Art&Pub, 1990–91).
He then ran a café in Paris (Le Lafayette,
1991), simultaneously working on multiple projects of
all kinds, including commissions (J’y étais,
1992; Parking Hoche à Rennes, 1994–1996).
He left Paris for Brittany, where he directed a local
drawing school, Vitré (1993–1996), as well
as correspondence courses in drawing (N.C.D.G.Q.A.D.;
1994–1997). His use of the personal computer opened
up other avenues (images, drawing) while he pursued longer-term
projects such as Prix Choc (1994) and GM
joue au golf en pensant à Rudy Ricciotti (1993–1996).
In 1996, in the shops of the Breton village where he lived,
he organized the exhibition La Galerie du placard,
with about thirty participants both known and unknown.
Pieces for public and private collections alternated with
program residences and atelier work, in particular the
re-use of images as drawings, with a view to establishing
a catalogue raisonné in the form of comic strips;
this work was to be interrupted by illness. His work is
in private and public collections, including the Fonds
National d’art contemporain in Paris and several
FRACs (Fonds Régionaux d’Art Contemporain),
notably the FRAC Bretagne. A monograph published in 2004
by Éditions Jean-Michel Place has recreated this
singular journey. |
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