Biography of Marc Camille Chaimowicz
The decorative pastel world of Marc Camille Chaimowicz has a sumptuous yet muted feel to it. In so-called choreographies, Chaimowicz enacts and subsumes cultural histories and atmospheres in expanded, airy environments where objects, sculptures, and wallpapered walls have ample space to breathe and coexist. Inspired by modern French literature, Chaimowicz is an avid reader of Gide and Proust and has staged several exhibitions centered around 20th century poets. Notably a fictional installation of Jean Cocteau's bedroom-come-study—"a furnished interior that obliquely references [Cocteau's] poetics",—and a show dedicated to the turbulent life of Jean Genet. Creating strange quasi-domestic interiors for these authors to inhabit, Chaimowicz invites visitors into seductive enchanting spaces presenting loosely connected narratives that show—more than tell—a story.
Born in Paris in 1947, Marc Camille Chaimowicz lives and works in London. The artist has had solo shows at important institutions such as the Migros Museum, Zurich, the Musée des Beaux Arts, Dijon, and the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg during Manifesta 10 (2014). His stunning works can be found in many public collections including The Victoria and Albert Museum and The Tate Gallery, both in London, as well as the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Chaimowicz also teaches the M.F.A. course at the University of Reading, England, and is a visiting consultant at L'Ecole National des Beaux Arts in Dijon.
