Claude Gilli was born in Nice France in 1938. He enterd the School of Decorative Arts in Nice in 1955. In 1957, he met Albert Chubac and his first exhibition was organized with him and Martial Raysse ("Painters of twenty years" at the gallery Longchamp Nice).

In the wake of Raysse, Gilli began to work at the School of Nice in the sixties. Abandoning the painting to assemblages of constructed objects, he produced - from 1961 - a long series of "Ex-votos”; first work in painted carved wood, this period marks the commitment of the artist to the adventure of creation. The following year, Gilli burned almost everything he had done before, making his commitment to establish a true starting point.

Arman, Ben and Raysse allowed him to participate in his first Parisian exhibition (Gallery Henriette Legendre); he made the acquaintance of Robert Malaval. Gilli, in the early sixties, began a series of landscapes carved wood. The artist engaged frantically in the use of the blue color, color found throughout his work. He participated in several exhibitions in Nice with Albert Chubac, Robert Malaval and Bernar Venet, and meets Jacques Matarasso who becomes one of his leading merchants.

Arising out of his earliest works, a desire to leave the "framework" of the painting is expressed in his art, desire ever-present throughout his work. In a similar spirit, Claude Gilli performed the "Showcases" cutting volumes in thin planks of violently colored wood. In 1965, he also experimented with his first carved wood "Coulées" which enables him to be successful.

Letterings appeared in the cuttings of Claude Gilli in 1966, lettering borrowed from the world of teaching. That same year, his first solo exhibition was held at Gallery Yvon Lambert. In 1967, he participated in the exhibition "12 Great Realists" in Venice Gallery Del Leone, where he made the discovery of the work of American Pop Art (Lichtenstein, Warhol, Wesselman). Gilli started a new work phase in rupture with the previous period of colored wood, and his first work on transparent plexiglass appeared in 1968. From 1969 to 1971, Gilli experienced working with "Snails," which he says have met on the Saleya market (Nice). He realized castings, snails invading the surface of the table, then watercolors, by the necessity of means imposed by gastropods.

The artist settled down in Paris in 1970. In 1981, a first retrospective at the Museum of Nice (Gallery Ponchettes) revealed for the first time all of his work.

In 1985, the first steel sculptures of Claude Gilli appeared; in successive series, the artist shows landscapes, bas-reliefs of painted welded steel. He also created a monumental sculpture for the city of Nice.

Claude Gilli has certainly participated in the adventure of the School of Nice. His name can also be associated with the affirmation of the New Realism in France.

Claude Gilli died in 2015.

Source:
Website of the artist, 2021