François Morellet French, 1926-2016

Morellet (b. 1926 - d. 2016 Cholet, France), a self-taught artist, first exhibited his geometric works in 1950 at the Galerie Creuze in Paris. In the mid-1950s he was concerned with composing the picture field as an infinite structure that extended beyond the boundaries of the image itself, superimposing painted grids realized in wire ('Trames'), and later working with neon shapes, some of which can be activated by the viewer.

Morellet created his own systems in which he incorporates the elements of chance and idiosyncrasy to further counterbalance the arbitrariness of every decision of artistic order. In 1960, Morellet co-founded GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel: 1960-1968), a group of kinetic artists, including Julio Le Parc, who explored the possibilities of visual art in a scientific and experimental way.

From 1968 onwards, François Morellet became interested in architecture and public space. He received commissions for the Center Culturel in Compiègne, part of La Défense in Paris and the Kröller-Müller Museum Park in Otterlo.

Selected recent solo exhibitions include; Legacy of Henri Chotteau: François Morellet, SMAK, Ghent, 2014; François Morellet: du Pompidou Mobile au MuMa, Musée d'art Moderne André Malraux, Le Havre, 2013; François Morellet: Lamentable, Kunstverein Ruhr eV, Essen, 2012; François Morellet, Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, 2011; François Morellet: Réinstallations, Center Pompidou Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris, 2011 and François Morellet, L'esprit d'escalier, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2010. From October 2017 to June 2018 the Dia Art Foundation, New York a major retrospective of the artist.