Nationality French Name Jean-Michel Sanejouand | Known for Sculpture, Painting Period Contemporary art | |
Born July 18, 1934 (age 90) ( 1934-07-18 ) | ||
Jean-Michel Sanejouand was born in Lyon, France, on July 18, 1934. His work has many facets, ranging from environments to monumental sculptures, from readymade-like objects to paintings of oneiric landscapes in which (usually) one of his sculptures stands.
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Biography
Jean-Michel Sanejouand lived and worked in Paris between 1959 and 1993. Sanejouand now lives Vaulandry, in the Anjou countryside. His work is made of well-defined, complementary, sometimes overlaping, periods: the "Charges-objets" (1963–67), in the footsteps of Marcel Duchamp's readymade as well as an ironic reaction against Minimal Art, the "Organisations d'espaces" (1967–1972), where spaces in museums, towns, valleys, mountains are "organized", a few projects being within the realm of Land art (a volcano, a river...), many being more urban and on a smaller scale (a building site, a playground, a gallery...), the "Calligraphies d'humeur" (1968–78), his first paintings, in the footsteps of Francis Picabia's monsters, the "Tables d'orientation" (1974–77), his last series of "Organisations d'espaces", his first on an, imaginary, abstract world-scale, the "Espaces-Peintures" (1978–86), where imaginary landscapes are "organized", the "Peintures Noirs et Blanc" (1986–1992), in which landscape elements are more and more perturbed by space, the "Sculptures" (1989-now on), made with a few stones, although rougher ones than those used in some "Charges-objets", the "Peintures" (1992–96), where the number of landscape elements is reduced to a minimum, the "Sculptures-Peintures" (1996–2001), which are painted "Sculptures", the "Espaces-Critiques" (2002–08), where "Sculptures" are "organizing" the landscape in which they sit, the "Espaces & Cie" (2009-now on), which are calligraphic landscapes...
Main one-man shows
1967 "Premiere organisation d'espace", Ecole Polytechnique (Paris).
1968 "Deux organisations d'espace", Galerie Yvon Lambert (Paris).
1973 "Les Organisations d'espace de Sanejouand", Centre National d'Art Contemporain (Paris).
1979 "Espaces-Peintures", The Antwerp Gallery, FIAC (Paris).
1982 "Espaces-Peintures", Lens Fine Art Gallery (Antwerp, Belgium).
1986 "Retrospective: des Charges-Objets aux Espaces-Peintures", Palais des Beaux-Arts (Lyon, France).
1991 "Espaces-Peintures 1978-1986", MAC (Villeneuve d'Ascq, France).
1991 "Les Charges-Objets 1963-1967", Galerie Froment-Putman (Paris).
1995 "Retrospective 1963-1995", MNAM Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris).
1996 "Peintures", Galerie Barbier, FIAC (Paris).
2002 "Libre et Change", Galerie Chez Valentin (Paris).
2005 "Sanejouand", Le Plateau (Paris).
2011 "Espaces et Cie", Galerie MAM, Drawing now, Carrousel du Louvre (Paris).
2012 "Retrospectivement", HAB gallery (Nantes), as part of "Jean Michel Sanejouand's year in Pays de la Loire".
2015 "Un peu d'espace(s)", Galerie Art:Concept (Paris).
Main group exhibitions
1967 "Superlund", Lunds Konstall (Sweden). Curator: Pierre Restany. Also featuring: Arman, Christo, Erik Dietman, Yona Friedman, Francois Morellet, Jean-Pierre Raynaud, Nicolas Schoffer, Constantin Xenakis...
1976 Venice Biennale, French pavilion (Italy). Curator: Pierre Restany. Also featuring: Fred Forest, Raymond Hains, Alain Jacquet, Bertrand Lavier, Jean-Pierre Raynaud...
1986 "Qu'est-ce que l'art francais ?" (What is French art ?), Toulouse (France). Curator: Bernard Lamarche-Vadel. Also featuring: Erik Dietman, Robert Filliou, Gerard Garouste, Gerard Gasiorowski, Jacques Villegle...
1992 Universal Exposition of Seville, French pavilion (Seville, Spain).
2000 "Les Champs de la Sculpture" (Sculptures of Champs-Elysees), where "Le Silence" was first exhibited. Also featuring: Tony Cragg, Erik Dietman, Barry Flanagan, Raymond Hains, Keith Haring, Jean-Pierre Raynaud, Bernar Venet, Lawrence Weiner...
2006 "La force de l'Art", Grand Palais (Paris). Curator: Anne Tronche.
2012 "Ends of the earth: Land Art to 1974", MOCA (Los Angeles, USA).
2015 "Cycle des histoires sans fin", MAMCO (Geneve, Switzerland).
Monumental sculptures
1996 "Le Silence" (The Silence), a bronze sculpture whose largest version is two meters high. It is now installed in a private park of sculptures near Biarritz (France).
2005 Le Magicien (The Magician), a five-meters high bronze now installed in front of the railway station of Rennes (France).