Ephémère, 2017, Galerie Mathgoth

Gérard Zlotykamien, dit Zloty (b.1940), is a self taught artist and the precursor, in 1963, of street art in France and in the world. While preparing to attend the 3rd Biennale of Paris with Eduardo Arroyo and Jorge Camacho, he went to London and started painting walls with a “poire à lavement” (a douche). His first work “Ronde Macabre” was acquired by the state but the group Abattoir to which they belonged was censured and he decided to use a new space for his art, the city and its endless outside space. He wanted to reach out to everyone everywhere, and had a predilection for worn out wood or garbage, pieces which would be thrown away after he painted on them. He uses aerosol (spray paint) and douches for lavis which is like the extension of his hand. The exhibition organized by Mathilde and Gautier Jourdain from galerie Mathgoth includes a hundred pieces made over 65 years and a fascinating video of him, in a temporary space, near Bibliothèque Nationale, from Wednesday to Sunday, 3 pm to 7 pm.

Ephémère, 1970, Galerie Mathgoth

He met Yves Klein very early on and they shared a common passion for judo, a great discipline which made him approach painting as a martial art. The artist taught him the “gesture”, the rigorous and physical attitude to painting which is very useful when he uses a douche (pompe à lavement). They were so close that Yves Klein gave him his kimono when he quit judo.

Sloty was born in a Jewish family from Eastern Europe and his parents were sent to camps when he was 2 years old. He spent the war hiding with a nasty couple and was forever traumatized by the disappearance of his entourage. But the parents came back and could help him develop his quest for an artistic identity. His whole work named “Ephémère” deals with the instant, ghosts from the past inhabit his canvases and they are a permanent tribute to the innocent victims of tragedies. Every time a major event takes place in the world, he suffers and produces a new work.

Zloty in the temporary Mathgoth gallery with his enigmatic smile

He often uses bags made of jute which were commonly used to carry potatoes but also dead bodies. When he was little, his mother told him that once she was sitting down to eat on one of those bags, in the camp of Bergen Belsen, when she realized that the bag contained a dead body.

He has treated the theme of disappearance in first covering some canvases called “Effacements” (erasing),  with black paint in 1977 at galerie Charley Chevalier, thus destroying his own work. In 1995, he  burnt an old painting and collected the ashes in two glass containers which are exhibited here. A direct reference to the Auschwitz  ovens.

Nagasaki, 9 August 1945, cir 1957, private collection, a very early work at 17

In Avignon, On 8 July 1981, he painted 500 drawings in 24 hours in the church of Les Célestins. One drawing every three minutes on a sheet of paper. A young artist offered to help dry the drawings, he was called Jérôme Mesnager, and would become famous for painting skeletons on the walls of Paris. This physical experience made him so tired that he would be unable to work for the next two years.

At tehentrance of the space, Zloty’s most recent works made for show

When I asked him how he could constantly smile and have a fantastic sense of humor in the film dedicated to him, he said: “I am like Asians who always smile, hiding their real emotions and thoughts”. This mask has produced a very voluble character who is utterly charming and chats endlessly about his art. At 83, he is forceful and lives in La Rochelle where he moved from Argenteuil. The world is his canvas.

Two blocks away, at La Fab, Agnès B’s art foundation, you can discover a new work by Zloty made especially for his old friend and collector.

Make sure to go and see this exhibition which lasts until October 28, in a temporary space, from Wednesday to Sunday, 3 pm to 7 pm at 1 rue Alphonse Boudard, across the street from Bibliothèque Nationale and very easy to reach on Line 14. Galerie Mathgoth specializes in Street artists.