The House

Though Frenchman Michel Nedjar is the most widely exhibited and published living representative of art brut, his extraordinary trajectory poses a rarely-adressed question – namely, the impermanence of art brut. Discovered by Jean Dubuffet when the latter was working on the resurgence of the symbolic body, Nedjar became the protean artist whom we know today and who embodies absolute freedom in creation. Present in countless collections, he is the first brut artist whose works were included in the collections of Beaubourg (France). Since 2008 he has had eight solo exhibitions at Le Mahj (Paris), LaM (Lille), the Gugging Museum (Vienna), the Domaine de Chamarande (France), the Collection de l’Art Brut and the gallery.

John Devlin was only 25 years old when he left Canada to study theology at Cambridge and set himself on the path to priesthood. Although he adored Cambridge, he had to return and abandon his ecclesiastical dreams because of a psychotic disorder. He thus devoted his life to drawing his own Nova Cantabrigiensis, an idealized Cambridge that became both a symbolic projection and a healing protocol. Once his great work - developed in secret - was discovered in the late 1980s, he was the subject of numerous exhibitions and publications including the Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles for the iconic exhibition Photo Brut.

A frequent visitor to the Blu Cammello workshop in Livorno, he was first discovered by the artist Riccardo Bargellini. The hybrid sculptures he produces are composed of assembled objects whose links are prominent. Observed through the prism of their transitional, fetishistic or apotropaic value, they have been presented in several major exhibitions such as the monograph dedicated to him at the MAD Museum in Liège, Banditi dell’arte (Halle Saint Pierre) and art brut, abcd/Bruno Decharme collection (Maison rouge) in Paris. “These works are invested with a symbolic power that many “professional” artists are unable to achieve.” (P. Dagen, Le Monde)

Raised in an stimulating environment culturally open, Kostia is fascinated by circus, theatre and music since his early childhood. Teenager, he met the musician Antoine Boulangé who initiated him to music and who quickly detected his skills to rap. In 2009, as he were living in the South of France, Kostia Botkine regulary meet Antoine Boulangé at La “S” Grand Atelier where he participates to residencies of music creation with the band “The Choolers”. In 2015 Kostia Botkine settled down in Vielsam in order to work full time at the workshops of La “S”. Henceforth the Choolers’s project evolved until is tight to Philippe Marien ones. Since the band continues to expand and plays all around[…]