Jacques CHARLIER

 Jacques CHARLIER (1939)

Jacques Charlier was born in 1939 in Liège. He is a self-taught artist who uses the medium and the style according to the idea.

His multidisciplinary approach leads him to many fields but painting remains his main field of expression.

At the age of 17, he joined the Technical Service of the Province of Liège as a draughtsman in a large office for projects, creation and improvement of roads in the province. He worked there for 20 years. Charlier made it a field of artistic experimentation.

At the same time, he perfected his artistic technique as a self-taught artist.
He attended exhibitions, accumulated modern art catalogues, imitated fashionable artists by reproducing their works and produced variants of masterpieces from art history. This practice, together with his learning of drawing through his work at the STP, made him a technician with a lot of experience.

In 1962 he held his first exhibition of paintings at the Kunstkamer in Antwerp. His artistic career was launched. From 1978 onwards, Jacques Charlier was a lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Liege. There he taught comics, illustration and advertising for twenty years.

In 1986, he took part in the "Chambres d'Amis" project in Ghent, organised by Jan Hoet. This project invited visitors to explore the city and discover works by artists such as Bruce Nauman, Mario Merz and Kounellis in private houses and flats. Mario Merz and Kounellis.
Jacques Charlier's Chambre d'Ennemi, consisting of objects, furniture and live actors, caused a sensation among visitors and critics alike.

In 2009, Jacques Charlier made headlines with his pirate exhibition "100 sexes of artists". Invited to the Venice Biennale, he proposed to display caricatures of artists' sexes throughout the city. The artists are not identified but are suggested with the help of clues. The project was first tolerated and then finally refused by the curators of the Biennale but also by the City of Venice. Jacques Charlier and his curator, Enrico Lunghi, decided to rent a vaporetto and to install the exhibition there, 200 metres from the entrance of the Biennale and next to the yachts of millionaires. After two days, the whole Biennale knew about it and this exhibition was then shown in the highest places of contemporary art, in Metz, Antwerp. Brussels. Sofia, Liège...