François Curlet lived in Lyon until he was twenty-two years old, when he began his studies at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts before getting expelled. He then settled in Brussels where he still lives part-time today.
As a manipulator of objects and signs, François Curlet produces his works by scrutinising the manifestations of the present world.
This unclassifiable artist regularly changes his environment, like a street entertainer, to nurture his artistic approach, with daily life as a main source of inspiration. As a multidisciplinary artist, he performs in his creations a change of meaning by bringing together, seemingly naturally, ideas and forms from various contexts[1]. He is also interested in cinema as another way of grasping reality. With this new medium, François Curlet replaces objects with humans and approaches the psychological field in order to overthrow the codes of morality.
In parallel with his artistic work, in 1996 he launched ‘People Day’, a trademark, and also developed a collector’s activity which he considers a game. In this context, he assembled a whole series of archives of the artist Robert Filliou. François Curlet’s work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in France and abroad, notably at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2013 and at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Villeurbanne in 2007.
[1] Regarding François Curlet’s works, see the catalogue: Spezialität. François Curlet. Lyon – Torino – Antwerpen – Paris – Tourcoing, Institut d’art contemporain (Villeurbanne) – Centre culturel français – Galerie Micheline Szwajcer – FRAC Ile-de-France / Le Plateau – Galerie Commune, 2007.