André Robillard, born 1931 in Gien in the Loiret, is a French sculptor, draftsman, musician, creator of art brut.
Discovered by Jean Dubuffet and supported by Michel Nedjar, Robillard has two fields of predilection: the guns and the space. His “art things” as the artist calls them, are made from recycled materials such as cans, cables, wires, nails, light bulbs, plumbing elements, pipes and other spare parts.
The son of a forest ranger in the Orléans forest, André Robillard was born in the hamlet of La Maltournée near Gien. He experienced academic difficulties from a very young age and was placed at the age of seven in the annex school of the Fleury-les-Aubrais psychiatric hospital . Destined to become a farmhand, he was a runaway with a temper and was committed to the same hospital at the age of 19. After several brief releases, he was hired in 1964, at the age of 33, as an assistant to take care of the hospital's gardening, laundry, and wastewater treatment plant.
From being ill, he became a worker without ever leaving the center. That same year, he made his first rifle from salvaged materials (tin cans, used light bulbs, pieces of wood, fabric, etc.), " to kill the misery", he said. Shortly afterward, his psychiatrist, Dr. Paul Renard, sent some of them to Jean Dubuffet , who was then building his collection of Art Brut ; the two men met several times. Robillard also made spacecraft and Sputniks.
André Robillard also plays the accordion and harmonica . In 2009, he participated in a show, Tuer la misère (Killing Misery), conceived by Alexis Forestier and Charlotte Ranson of the company Les Endimanchés. In 2014, he collaborated on the creation of the album cover for the group Walabix.
Space travel : a recurring theme for contemporary artists. Discover 7 artists who are great travelers : André Robillard, Dominique Lemoine,
Also read a good article in Raw Vision #81
